No consensus of men can make an error erroneous. We can only find or commit an error, not create it. When we commit an error, we say what was an error already.
Josiah RoyceRead
That this individual life of all of us is not something limited in its temporal expression to the life that now we experience, follows from the very fact that here nothing final or individual is found expressed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our individual lives extend beyond our current experiences and are interconnected with a larger existence.
Josiah Royce's quote suggests that the significance of individual life transcends mere temporal existence. It implies that the essence of our lives is not limited to the time we spend on earth, as it is part of a broader, interconnected reality which remains unexpressed in singular experiences. This reflection encourages us to see our lives as part of a greater whole, contributing to an ongoing narrative rather than isolated events.
Themes
IndividualityLifeExistenceInterconnectionPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of their future beyond immediate achievements.
More from Josiah Royce
All quotes →A crowd, whether it be a dangerous mob, or an amiably joyous gathering at a picnic is not a community. It has a mind, but no institutions, no organizations, no coherent unity, no history, no traditions.
Josiah RoyceRead
We seek true individuality and the true individuals. But we find them not. For lo, we mortals see what our poor eyes can see; and they, the true individuals, - they belong not to this world of our merely human sense and thought.
Josiah RoyceRead
Thinking is like loving and dying. Each of us must do it for himself.
Josiah RoyceRead
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