There are not in the world at any one time more than a dozen persons who read and understand Plato:-never enough to pay for an edition of his works; yet to every generation these come duly down, for the sake of those few persons, as if God brought them written in his hand.
Interpretation
Few truly understand profound philosophical works, yet their value is eternal.
Emerson reflects on the limited number of individuals who truly grasp the depth of Plato's philosophical insights, emphasizing that even though many may not appreciate such works, they continue to endure through generations. This suggests a divine quality to knowledge, as if it is preserved and delivered for those few who are capable of understanding its significance.
In practice
During a lecture on ancient philosophy, this quote can be used to highlight the enduring impact of Plato's ideas.
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?
The greatest good is what we do for others.
When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he does become inferior.
...when everything else fails, we communicate in the language of the stars
Personal purity isn’t really the issue. Not supporting animal abuse – and persuading others not to support it – is.
Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? ...If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example?
I hope...that mankind will at length, as they call themselves reasonable creatures, have reason and sense enough to settle their differences without cutting throats; for in my opinion there never was a good war, or a bad peace.
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