What matters here are the works - finally without them his life would be uninteresting. What matters, that is, are the astonishing things that he left behind. If we can get the life in relation to the works, then it can take off.
Interpretation
The value of a person's life is reflected in their contributions and achievements rather than their existence alone.
In this quote, Stephen Greenblatt emphasizes that a person's legacy and the impact they leave behind through their works are what truly define their life. He suggests that without these remarkable contributions, life can seem dull or unremarkable, and that by appreciating the relationship between life and works, we can fully honor and understand someone's existence.
In practice
During a commencement speech, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of striving for meaningful achievements in life.
I've been at this for 40 years. And, as an academic, I've been content with relatively small audiences, with the thought that the audience I long for will find its way eventually to what I have written, provided that what I have written is good enough.
What I wanted to do was to get that sense of being in touch with this lost world while holding onto what draws readers and audiences there in the first place.
The exercise of reason is not available only to specialists; it is accessible to everyone.
Compared to the unleashed forces of warfare and of faith, Mount Vesuvius was kinder to the legacy of antiquity.
The greatest obstacle to pleasure is not pain; it is delusion.
I believe in broken, fractured, complicated narratives, but I believe in narratives as a vehicle for truth, not simply as a form of entertainment, though I love entertainment, but also a way of conveying what needs to be conveyed about the works that I care about.
If God has given you the world's goods in abundance, it is to help you gain those of Heaven and to be a good example of sound teaching to your sons, servants, and relatives.
The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, and anguished or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.
Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.
Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.
If a conclusion is not poetically balanced, it cannot be scientifically true.
Snow reminds Ka of God! But I’m not sure it would be accurate. What brings me close to God is the silence of snow.
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