Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. Many will read the book before one thinks of quoting a passage. As soon as he has done this, that line will be quoted east and west.
Interpretation
Quoting someone reflects an appreciation for their thoughts and ideas, often sharing wisdom with a wider audience.
Ralph Waldo Emerson highlights the significant role of quoting in literature and communication. The essence of his quote is that while the originator of an idea is vital, it is the person who quotes that idea who helps to spread its influence. This emphasizes the value of acknowledging and sharing profound thoughts, as they can reach many more people through simple quotations, thus enhancing the original message's impact.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of reading, one might use this quote to highlight how sharing notable phrases enriches discussions.
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?
All my adult life, if I didn't have several hours a day to sit in a room by myself, I would get antsy and irritable.
Upon the first goblet he read this inscription, monkey wine; upon the second, lion wine; upon the third, sheep wine; upon the fourth, swine wine. These four inscriptions expressed the four descending degrees of drunkenness: the first, that which enlivens; the second, that which irritates; the third, that which stupefies; finally the last, that which brutalizes.
When you exercise your freedom to express yourself at the lowest level, you ultimately condemn yourself to live at that level.
I've always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.
God has put something noble and good into every heart His hand created.
Of the thousands of ways that humans differ from one another, turns out there's this one cluster of traits called conscientiousness that predict a whole host of positive life outcomes, such as longevity over our health, life satisfaction.
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