We prize books, and they prize them most who are themselves wise.
Interpretation
Books are valued by those who possess wisdom, and the wisest individuals cherish them the most.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson highlights the special relationship between wisdom and the appreciation of books. It suggests that the pursuit of knowledge and understanding through reading is both a hallmark of wisdom and a means to cultivate it. Those who are wise recognize the value of books not just as sources of information, but as tools for personal growth and enlightenment.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of education, one might quote Emerson to emphasize how wise individuals value learning.
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?
Investing in girls' education is the very best thing we can do, not just for our daughters and granddaughters, but for their families, their communities, and their countries.
I started playing chess when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It is very good for children to learn to play chess, because it helps them to develop their mental abilities. It also helps to consolidate a person's character, because as it happens both in life and in a chess game we have to make decisions constantly. In chess there is no luck and no excuses: everything is in your hands.
Nothing is more common than for men to think that because they are familiar with words they understand the ideas they stand for.
If you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors.
We live in a society that penalizes highly creative individuals for their non-conformist autonomy. This makes the teaching of problem solving in design both discouraging and difficult. A...student (has) massive blocks against new ways of thinking, engendered by some 16 years of mis-education.
Advice to young writers wo want to get ahead without any annoying delays: don't write about Man, write about a man.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.