This truth within thy mind rehearse, That in a boundless universe Is boundless better, boundless worse.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the vastness of the universe, suggesting that with infinite possibilities comes both greater potential for good and bad.
In this quote, Tennyson highlights the paradox of the boundless universe and its implications for human experience. He suggests that as the universe expands without limits, so too do the opportunities for excellence and failure, emphasizing the dual nature of existence where what is considered 'better' or 'worse' can become limitless. This invites deep reflection on how our understanding of morality and potential is shaped in an infinitely complex world.
In practice
In a debate about the nature of good and evil, this quote can illustrate the complexities involved.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves.
There is no perfect virtue-none that bears fruit- unless it is exercised by means of our neighbor.
Most social acts have to be understood in their setting, and lose meaning if isolated.
Know what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of Baptism; it is to believe in belief; it is to be so little that elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child had its fairy godmother in its soul.
...the life which is best for men, both separately, as individuals, and in the mass, as states, is the life which has virtue sufficiently supported by material resources to facilitate participation in the actions that virtue calls for.
Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man; the power that crosses the white sea, driven by the stormy wind, making a path under surges that threaten to engulf him.
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