Civilization depends on morality.
Interpretation
Morality is the foundation upon which society is built.
Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the crucial role of morality in establishing and maintaining civilization. He suggests that without a moral framework, societal structures cannot flourish, highlighting the importance of ethical principles in guiding human behavior and interactions.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of moral education in schools.
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?
It is hard to prevent oneself from believing what one so keenly desires.
Punctuality is a quality the need of which is bound up with social co-operation. It has nothing to do with the relation of the soul to God, or with mystic insight, or with any of the matters with which the more elevated and spiritual moralists are concerned.
The power and influence of a movie star is curious: I didn't ask for it or take it; people gave it to me. Simply because you're a movie star, people empower you with special rights and privileges.
It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us.
To hear two American men congratulating each other on being heterosexual is one of the most chilling experiences - and unique to the United States. You don't hear two Italians sitting around complimenting each other because they actually like to go to bed with women. The American is hysterical about his manhood.
There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favors done them so far that they strangle themselves with the rope of gratitude.
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