Work and thou canst escape the reward; whether the work be fine or course, planting corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work, done to thine own approbation, it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the thought.
Interpretation
Honest work brings fulfillment and rewards, regardless of its nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote emphasizes that the value of work lies in its honesty and personal satisfaction rather than the nature of the work itself. Whether one is engaged in simple tasks like planting corn or complex endeavors like writing epics, as long as the effort is sincere and meets one's own standards, it will yield rewards that enrich both the senses and the mind.
In practice
In a motivational speech about dedication and hard work, this quote can inspire the audience to value their efforts.
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 written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
Habits are funny things. What's funny, or rather tragic, is that bad habits are so predictable and avoidable. Despite this, there are people by the millions who insist on acquiring habits that are bad, expensive, and create problems. The habit they weren't going to get, got them!
Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
Blessings don’t come from outside, but from within. Whatever blessings we receive are the result of our own efforts and positive actions.
A man must fortify himself and understand that a wise man who yields to laziness or anger or passion or love of drink, or who commits any other action prompted by impulse and inopportune, will probably find his fault condoned; but if he stoops to greed, he will not be pardoned, but render himself odious as a combination of all vices at once.
Not all things are to be discovered; many are better concealed.
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