The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
There can be no acting or doing of any kind till it be recognized that there is a thing to be done; the thing once recognized, doing in a thousand shapes becomes possible.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Recognition of a task is the first step toward action and achievement.
Thomas Carlyle's quote emphasizes the importance of acknowledging a task or purpose before any form of action can take place. Once we recognize what needs to be done, myriad possibilities for taking action open up, highlighting the pivotal role of awareness in the process of achievement and success.
Themes
ActionRecognitionMotivationSuccessAwareness
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting to kick off a new project.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes →Thirty millions, mostly fools.
Thomas CarlyleRead
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
Thomas CarlyleRead
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
Thomas CarlyleRead
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