The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the most valuable asset one can possess is a passionate and engaged spirit.
Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that the essence of a person's worth is not found in material possessions, status, or superficial accomplishments, but rather in the vibrancy and activity of their soul. An 'active soul' signifies a person who is engaged, aware, and passionately pursues their interests and values, contributing positively to themselves and the world around them.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
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?
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.
Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion.
Diverse groups of problem solvers outperformed the groups of the best individuals at solving complex problems. The reason: the diverse groups got stuck less often than the smart individuals, who tended to think similarly.
The main thing, of course, always, is the fact that there is only one of you in the world, just one, and if that is not fulfilled then something has been lost. Ambition is not enough; necessity is everything.
I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician's, which is fantastical; nor the courtier's, which is proud; not the soldier's which is ambitious; nor the lawyer's, which is politic; nor the lady's, which is nice; nor the lover's, which is all these: but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry contemplation of my travels, which, by often rumination, wraps me in a most humorous sadness.
The more difficult a problem becomes, the more interesting it is.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.