The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of taking action to fulfill dreams rather than remaining complacent.
In this quote, Edgar Allan Poe highlights the contrast between the majority who are satisfied with dreaming and the few who are determined to bring those dreams to fruition. The 'hundredth man' symbolizes tenacity and the immense potential that resides within individuals who dare to pursue their ambitions, suggesting that true change and progress in the world come from those willing to strive and work hard for what they envision.
In practice
During a motivational speech to inspire students to pursue their dreams.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
If you think small, your world will be small. If you think big, your world will be big.
This is the greatest thing about sports - you play to win the game. Hello? You don't play to just play it. When you start telling me it doesn't matter, then retire, get out, because it matters.
I don't train for football; I train more for a lifestyle.
Progress in every age results only from the fact that there are some men and women who refuse to believe that what they know to be right cannot be done.
So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ΒΎ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.
You don't have to settle for the status quo, for being good enough, for getting by, for working all night.
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