When I was praised I lost my time, for instantly I turned around to look at the work I had thought slightly of, and that day I made nothing new.
Interpretation
Praise can distract us from our creative process and hinder productivity.
This quote reflects on the idea that seeking and receiving praise can divert our attention from our work and creativity. Emerson suggests that when he was celebrated for his past achievements, he wasted time reflecting on them instead of focusing on producing new work, showing how external validation can be a hindrance to personal growth and innovation.
In practice
This quote can be used in a workshop about maintaining focus in creative processes.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
When this No-Mind has been well developed, the mind does not stop with one thing nor does it lack any one thing. It appears appropriately when facing a time of need.
Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
Be patient, even if every possibility seems closed.
I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless.
If I see one dilemma with Western man, it's that he can't accept how beautiful he is. He can't accept that he is pure light, that he's pure love, that he's pure consciousness, that he's divine.
Steady faith is stronger than destiny. Destiny is the result of causes, mostly accidental, and is therefore loosely woven. Confidence and good hope will overcome it easily.
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