The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
The true past departs not, no truth or goodness realized by man ever dies, or can die; but all is still here, and, recognized or not, lives and works through endless change.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The past is always present in our lives and continues to influence us regardless of our awareness of it.
This quote by Thomas Carlyle suggests that our experiences, truths, and values from the past never truly fade away; instead, they persist and shape our reality in the face of constant change. It implies that everything we have learned or realized carries forward, impacting our actions and thoughts, whether we consciously acknowledge it or not.
Themes
PastTruthChangeInfluenceHistory
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of learning from history.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes →Thirty millions, mostly fools.
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There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
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Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
Thomas CarlyleRead
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