The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops - no, but the kind of man the country turns out.
Interpretation
True civilization is measured by the character and quality of its people, not by material statistics.
Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes that the real measure of a civilized society lies not in its population size, wealth, or agricultural success, but rather in the moral and ethical standards of its individuals. He suggests that it is the nature of the people within a society that defines its greatness and future potential.
In practice
In a speech on community values, one might say, 'As Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us, the true test of civilization is the character of our people.'
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 all is said and done, we exist only in relation to the world, and our senses evolved as scouts who bridge that divide and provide volumes of information, warnings and rewards.
I have come to deal with principles. I have only to preach that God comes again and again, and that He came in India as Krishna, Rama, and Buddha, and that He will come again. It can almost be demonstrated that after each 500 years the world sinks, and a tremendous spiritual wave comes, and on the top of the wave is a Christ.
I have come not to make war on the Italians, but to aid the Italians against Rome.
How necessary it is at all times to watch against the attempted encroachment of power, and to prevent its running to excess.
Never say anything to hurt anyone. Moreover . . . refrain from double talk, from shrewd and canny remarks that are designed to advance our interests at someone's disadvantage. We are to turn our back upon evil, and in every way possible, do good, help people and bring blessings into their lives.
No weapon has ever settled a moral problem. It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be a just one. You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself.
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