The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
The authentic insight and experience of any human soul, were it but insight and experience in hewing of wood and drawing of water, is real knowledge, a real possession and acquirement.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True knowledge stems from genuine experiences, regardless of their nature.
This quote by Thomas Carlyle emphasizes that the authentic insights gained from one’s personal experiences are what constitute real knowledge. It suggests that even the simplest tasks, like hewing wood and drawing water, can lead to profound understanding and mastery, highlighting the value of practical experience over theoretical knowledge.
Themes
KnowledgeExperienceWisdomAuthenticityInsight
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the importance of life lessons for students.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes →Thirty millions, mostly fools.
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There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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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.
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Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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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.
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