Men lose their tempers in defending their taste.
Interpretation
People often become angry when their preferences are challenged.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote reflects the idea that individuals are deeply connected to their personal tastes and preferences. When these are questioned or criticized, they can react strongly, often with anger. This suggests that our tastes are not just superficial choices but are tied to our identity and self-worth, highlighting the importance of understanding and respecting differing opinions.
In practice
This quote can be used during a debate about personal preferences in art or literature.
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?
Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way.
There is nothing like first-hand evidence.
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
Speak your heart. If they don't understand, the message was never meant for them anyway.
Asking the proper questions is the central action of transformation. Questions are the key that causes the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.
If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for the Creator, there is no poverty.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.