. . . the weal of the race, and the cause of humanity, here and now, are enough To give life meaning and death as well.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
The tongue may be an unruly member-- But silence poisons the soul.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Speaking without thought can cause harm, but remaining silent can be equally damaging.
This quote reflects on the dual nature of communication; while speaking without restraint can lead to conflict and disorder, choosing to remain silent can prevent necessary expression and lead to a toxic internal state. It highlights the importance of finding a balance in communication, where both speaking and silence have their respective virtues and consequences.
Themes
CommunicationSilenceExpressionThoughtSoul
In practice
Example use cases
In a public speaking workshop, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of mindful communication.
More from Edgar Lee Masters
All quotes βTo this generation I would say: Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
Genius is a bend in the creek where bright water has gathered, and which mirrors the trees, the sky and the banks. It just does that because it is there and the scenery is there. Talent is a fine mirror with a silver frame, with the name of the owner engraved on the back.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
To love is to find your own soul Through the soul of the beloved one.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness, But life without meaning is the torture Of restlessness and vague desire-It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
And I never started to plow in my life That some one did not stop in the road And take me away to a dance or picnic. I ended up with forty acres; I ended up with a broken fiddleβ And a broken laugh, and a thousand memories, And not a single regret.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
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I have a deep sympathy with war; it so apes the gait and bearing of the soul.
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There is to me about this place a smell of rot, the smell of rot that ripe fruit makes. Nowhere, ever, have the hideous mechanics of birth and copulation and death -those monstrous upheavals of life that the Greeks call miasma, defilement- been so brutal or been painted up to look so pretty; have so many people put so much faith in lies and mutability and death death death.
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Investing a lot of time and money in external beauty and caring little about internal beauty.
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This false distance is present everywhere: in spy films, in Godard, in modern advertising, which uses it continually as a cultural allusion. It is not really clear in the end whether this 'cool' smile is the smile of humour or that of commercial complicity. This is also the case with pop, and its smile ultimately encapsulates all its ambiguity: it is not the smile of critical distance, but the smile of collusion
Jean BaudrillardRead
Being Adam Parrish was a complicated thing, a wonder of muscles and organs, synapses and nerves. He was a miracle of moving parts, a study in survival. The most important thing to Adam Parrish, though, had always been free will, the ability to be his own master. This was the important thing. It had always been the important thing. This was what it was to be Adam.
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Nothing is so false as human life, nothing so treacherous. God knows no one would have accepted it as a gift, if it had not been given without our knowledge.
Seneca The YoungerRead