To this generation I would say: Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
. . . the weal of the race, and the cause of humanity, here and now, are enough To give life meaning and death as well.
Interpretation
Life gains significance through our collective well-being and our commitment to humanity.
This quote by Edgar Lee Masters suggests that the purpose of life is intertwined with the welfare of others and the broader human experience. It implies that our actions in the present, aimed at benefiting society, grant both life and death a deeper meaning, emphasizing the importance of community and altruism in understanding existence.
In practice
During a speech about social responsibility, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of serving others.
To this generation I would say: Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.
The tongue may be an unruly member-- But silence poisons the soul.
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.
To love is to find your own soul Through the soul of the beloved one.
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.
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.
Now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened.
In the conduct of our public worship where is the authority of Christ to be found? The truth is that today the Lord rarely controls a service, and the influence He exerts is very small. We sing of Him and preach about Him, but He must not interfere; we worship our way, and it must be right because we have always done it that way, as have the other churches in our group.
In U.S. discourse, immigrants are mostly represented as less than human, a policy problem, or as just that, a category, and categories are prisons.
I think the only positive thing that came from Uruguay's dictatorship was the spread of Montevideo natives around the world, and I continued writing about them from my various places of exile.
We want a world where life is preserved, and the quality of life is enriched for everybody, not only for the privileged.
In almost all sciences the fundamental knowledge is either found in earliest times or is still being sought.
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