Every man is a borrower and a mimic, life is theatrical and literature a quotation.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that humans inherently take from others while trying to navigate life, which is like a performance, heavily influenced by existing works.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote reflects the idea that individuals are not original creators but rather borrowers of thoughts and experiences. He implies that life itself is akin to a play where people imitate others, and literature serves as a compendium of borrowed ideas and expressions. This highlights the interconnectedness of human experiences and the notion that our actions and creations are often influenced by those who came before us, challenging the idea of absolute originality.
In practice
In a speech about creativity, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of drawing inspiration from past works.
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?
Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.
Of course I don't believe in it [pointing to horseshoe on his office wall]. But I understand that it brings you luck whether you believe in it or not.
Working at the Food Bank with my kids is an eye-opener. The face of hunger isn't the bum on the street drinking Sterno; it's the working poor. They don't look any different, they don't behave any differently, they're not really any less educated. They are incredibly less privileged, and that's it.
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.
Freedom to many means immediate betterment, as if by magic. Unless I can meet at least some of these aspirations, my support will wane and my head will roll just as surely as the tickbird follows the rhino.
The whole life lies in the verb seeing.
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