We are taught by great actions that the universe is the property of every individual in it.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that everyone has a rightful place and ownership in the universe through their actions.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote suggests that through significant actions, individuals can express their inherent connection to the universe. It implies that the greatness of one's actions not only defines one's personal journey but also reinforces the idea that each person has a stake in the vastness of existence, advocating for the unity and shared responsibility among all individuals within the universe.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth, you might reference this quote to encourage individuals to take impactful actions.
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?
The gods confound the man who first found out How to distinguish hours! Confound him, too, Who in this place set up a sun-dial, To cut and hack my days so wretchedly Into small portions.
Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.
There are exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics. All you have to do is find them.
...if you ask me whether or not I'm an atheist, I wouldn't even answer. I would first want an explanation of what it is that I'm supposed not to believe in, and I've never seen an explanation.
Why don't they cut their own children's ears into points to make them look sharp? Why don't they cut off their noses to make them look plucky? One would be just as sensible as the other. What right have they to torment and disfigure God's creatures?
And so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.
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