The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
I don't like to talk much with people who always agree with me. It is amusing to coquette with an echo for a little while, but one soon tires of it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Engaging with people who only agree with us is ultimately unfulfilling and lacks depth.
This quote by Thomas Carlyle highlights the importance of dialogue and the value of differing perspectives. While it may be pleasant to converse with those who share our views, it lacks substance and growth; meaningful conversations arise from differing opinions and challenging perspectives.
Themes
DialoguePerspectivesGrowthDisagreementCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a team meeting, to emphasize the value of diverse opinions, one might reference this quote.
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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