Philanthropic and religious bodies do not commonly make their executive officers out of saints.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that executive leaders in philanthropic and religious organizations are not typically virtuous individuals.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote implies a critique of the leadership within philanthropic and religious institutions, indicating that such organizations tend to prioritize practical, often self-interested individuals for leadership roles, rather than those who are purely altruistic or morally upright. This perspective raises important questions about the nature of leadership and motivation within organizations that are meant to serve the greater good, suggesting a complex relationship between human nature and institutional goals.
In practice
During a nonprofit conference, one might quote Emerson to highlight the challenges in finding truly altruistic leaders.
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?
In the poetic tradition, the heart's affections are indeed holy, and if organizations are asking for people's hearts and minds, they are asking in a way for their holy and hidden affections at the same time.
Peace is the precious fruit of a righteous life. It is possible because of the Atonement of the Savior. It is earned through full repentance, for that leads to refreshing forgiveness.
Life has to be protected. It is precarious. I would even go so far as to say that precarious life is, in a way, a Jewish value for me.
A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.
It is very noble hypocrisy not to talk of one's self.
But would you kindly ponder this question: What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. But shadows also come from trees and living beings. Do you want to strip the earth of all trees and living things just because of your fantasy of enjoying naked light? You're stupid.
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