Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
In youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel; and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in realizing and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Young people often express profound thoughts they don't fully understand, and later in life, they may dedicate themselves to understanding those thoughts.
This quote suggests that in their youth, individuals can articulate deep wisdom or insights that they may not yet fully comprehend. As they progress through life, they often find themselves reflecting on those early expressions, working to understand and embody the wisdom they once claimed, thus turning their youthful articulations into a lifelong journey of self-discovery and realization.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a commencement speech to encourage graduates to reflect on their past insights as they move forward.
More from Nathaniel Hawthorne
All quotes →A bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part.
All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent.
There is so much wretchedness in the world, that we may safely take the word of any mortal professing to need our assistance; and, even should we be deceived, still the good to ourselves resulting from a kind act is worth more than the trifle by which we purchase it.
Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart! Else it may be their miserable fortune, when some mightier touch than their own may have awakened all her sensibilities, to be reproached even for the calm content, the marble image of happiness, which they will have imposed upon her as the warm reality.
The thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become.
Similar quotes
Good thoughts keep off bad thoughts. They must themselves disappear before the state of realization.
O soul, be patient: thou shalt find A little matter mend all this; Some strain of music to thy mind, Some praise for skill not spent amiss.
Fair speech may hide a foul heart.
She loved the teachings of the Five Visions. Humility. Sacrifice. Seeing another's problems before your own. Yet she was beginning to think that she-- along with others-- had taken this belief too far, letting her desire to seem humble become a form of pride itself. She now saw that when her faith had become about clothing instead of people, it had taken a wrong turn.
You yourself may not be luminous, but you are a conductor of light.
The definition of the good life is doing creative things, whether making music, trying to figure out how to do a particular piece of code, or putting together investments.