The maker of a sentence launches out into the infinite and builds a road into Chaos and old Night, and is followed by those who hear him with something of wild, creative delight.
Interpretation
The act of creating sentences allows writers to explore the unknown and inspire others with their creativity.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote highlights the profound impact of sentence construction as a gateway to imagination and exploration. When a writer embarks on crafting sentences, they venture into uncharted territories of thought and emotion, creating pathways that others can follow and find joy in the creative process. This act not only showcases the beauty of language but also ignites a sense of wonder and inspiration in those who engage with it.
In practice
In a speech about the power of literature, one might quote Emerson to emphasize the role of writers as explorers.
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 artist is not a man who describes, but a man who feels.
To write a symphony is, for me, to construct a world.
There's so much else to do in the world. To just be interested in doing films would limit my life.
Everything a director does must help the story and the performances. Otherwise, it is useless.
Poetry is a sort of homecoming.
My art flatters nobody by imitation; it courts nobody by smoothness, tickles nobody by petiteness... there is no finish in nature.
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