The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights how every new idea or opinion begins as an individual thought, often rejected by the majority.
Thomas Carlyle's quote emphasizes the concept that every innovative idea or opinion, when first expressed, is often unique to the individual who conceived it. It reflects the inherent challenge of introducing new thoughts, as they may initially be met with skepticism or resistance from the broader society, illustrating the journey of such opinions from isolation to acceptance as they gain traction over time.
Themes
OpinionMinorityThoughtInnovationIndividuality
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about climate change, one might quote Carlyle to emphasize the need to embrace new ideas.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes βThirty millions, mostly fools.
Thomas CarlyleRead
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
Thomas CarlyleRead
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
Thomas CarlyleRead
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It's like the day you realize dolls are dolls. I pick up my old self and I see it's silly. A toy I've played with too often. It's a little sad, like an old golliwog at the bottom of the cupboard. Innocent and used-up and proud and silly.
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When men speak ill of thee, live so that nobody will believe them.
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So now the perception is, yes, women are here to stay. And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.
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Men decided that it was better to pay taxes than to fight among themselves; better to pay tribute to one magnificent robber than to bribe them all.
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You, yesterday, did the usual things, just as any day, You don't know if it's worth remembering. You would prefer to remember, there lying in the half-darkness of the bedroom, not what has happened already but what is going to happen. In your half-darkness your eyes would prefer to look ahead, not behind, and they do not know how to foresee the past.
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Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
Thomas MertonRead