Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass.
Interpretation
Committing a crime exposes one's vulnerabilities and consequences are visible for all to see.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that when a person engages in criminal behavior, they are metaphorically placed in a situation where their wrongdoings are transparent, akin to being on display. The idea of the earth being made of glass implies that their actions will not go unnoticed, and the repercussions of their crimes will be evident both to themselves and society, reinforcing the interconnectedness of individual actions and public perception.
In practice
In a discussion about the impact of crime on society, one might say, 'As Emerson wisely noted, commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass.'
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?
Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.
Definitions, contrary to popular opinion, tell us nothing about things. They only describe people's linguistic habits; that is, they tell us what noises people make under what conditions.
Since we live in a society that promotes faddism and temporary superficial adaptation of different values, we are easily convinced that changes have occurred in arenas where there has been little or no change.
Here then at long last is my darkness. No cry of light, no glimmer, not even the faintest shard of hope to break free across the hold.
Every reign must submit to a greater reign.
If truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom.
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