The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.
The elms of New England! They are as much a part of her beauty as the columns of the Parthenon were the glory of its architecture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The elms of New England are integral to its beauty, similar to how the Parthenon columns represent architectural glory.
In this quote, Henry Ward Beecher emphasizes the significance of the elms in New England's landscape, likening their beauty to the majestic columns of the Parthenon that symbolize the pinnacle of architectural achievement. This comparison illustrates that just as the Parthenon is indispensable to the identity and splendor of ancient Greece, the elms are essential to the charm and character of New England, highlighting the importance of natural elements in the appreciation of cultural beauty.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about preserving natural landscapes.
More from Henry Ward Beecher
All quotes βA man who cannot get angry is like a stream that cannot overflow, that is always turbid. Sometimes indignation is as good as a thunderstorm in summer, clearing and cooling the air.
No one can deal with the hearts of men unless he has the sympathy which is given by love.
We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
No man can tell if he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.
There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousands truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, and then fly away.
Similar quotes
My heart found its home long ago in the beauty, mystery, order and disorder of the flowering earth. I wanted future generations to be able to savor what I had all my life.
Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.
The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.
Sleep is a state in which a great part of every life is passed. No animal has yet been discovered, whose existence is not varied with intervals of insensibility; and some late philosophers have extended the empire of sleep over the vegetable world.
.... we are a part of nature as a whole, whose order we follow.
There's something about rushing water that I can watch for hours and feel as if I need to do nothing more. It's alive in a way that's greater than any description of it.