The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
It is great, and there is no other greatness-to make one nook of God's Creation more fruitful, better, more worthy of God; to make some human heart a little wiser, manlier, happier-more blessed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True greatness lies in improving the world and enriching the human spirit.
The quote by Thomas Carlyle emphasizes the idea that true greatness is not measured by wealth or power, but by one's ability to enhance the world around them. It suggests that contributing to the betterment of others, making them wiser, happier, and more fulfilled is the highest form of achievement and service to God’s creation.
Themes
GreatnessServiceBettermentWisdomHappiness
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about community service, one could use this quote to inspire action.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes →Thirty 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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The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.
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When we develop reverence for food and the miracle of transformation inherent in it, just the simple act of eating creates a ritual of celebration.
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When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems. This is what did [Claude Elwood] Shannon in. After information theory, what do you do for an encore? The great scientists often make this error. They fail to continue to plant the little acorns from which the mighty oak trees grow. They try to get the big thing right off. And that isn't the way things go. So that is another reason why you find that when you get early recognition it seems to sterilize you.
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