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?
Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others.
There's an old rule in neuroscience that does not alter with age: use it or lose it. It is a very hopeful principle when applied to critical thought in the reading brain because it implies choice.
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
Intelligence is the wife, imagination is the mistress, memory is the servant.
I believe that all the survivors are mad. One time or another their madness will explode. You cannot absorb that much madness and not be influenced by it. That is why the children of survivors are so tragic. I see them in school. They don't know how
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