Where you are is of no moment, but only what you are doing there. It is not the place that ennobles you, but you the place, and this only by doing that which is great and noble.
Interpretation
Your actions and character define your worth, not your location.
This quote emphasizes that one's value is determined not by their physical surroundings but by the actions they take and the qualities they embody. It suggests that greatness comes from within, and that an individual has the power to elevate any environment through their noble deeds and intentions.
In practice
In a motivational speech, one might say this quote to inspire individuals to focus on their contributions rather than their surroundings.
Gold, silver, jewels, purple garments, houses built of marble, groomed estates, pious paintings, caparisoned steeds, and other things of this kind offer a mutable and superficial pleasure; books give delight to the very marrow of one's bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.
Five enemies of peace inhabit with us - avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.
To begin with myself, then, the utterances of men concerning me will differ widely, since in passing judgment almost every one is influenced not so much by truth as by preference, and good and evil report alike know no bounds.
True, we love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving. There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.
I looked back at the summit of the mountain, which seemed but a cubit high in comparison with the height of human contemplation, were in not too often merged in the corruptions of the earth.
The human mind cannot create anything. It produces nothing until having been fertilized by experience and meditation; its acquisitions are the germs of its production.
In today's rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.
An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.
Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
Telling a true story about personal experience is not just a matter of being oneself, or even or finding oneself. It is also a matter of choosing oneself.
There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.
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