The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Properly speaking, all true work is religion.
Interpretation
True work reflects one's beliefs and values, akin to a sacred practice.
This quote by Thomas Carlyle suggests that genuine work transcends mere labor; it embodies deep personal convictions and purpose. When one approaches their work with sincerity and passion, it becomes a form of devotion, akin to religious practice, emphasizing the significance of meaningful engagement in our tasks.
In practice
During a motivational speech, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of finding meaning in work.
The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thirty millions, mostly fools.
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
The dead...are more real than the living because they are complete.
We could present spatially an atomic fact which contradicted the laws of physics, but not one which contradicted the laws of geometry.
Were the offer made true, I would engage to run again, from beginning to end, the same career of life. All I would ask should be the privilege of an author, to correct, in a second edition, certain errors of the first.
I'm more than ever of the opinion that a decent human existence is possible today only on the fringes of society, where one then runs the risk of starving or being stoned to death. In these circumstances, a sense of humor is a great help.
Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory.
The stool of repentance and the foot of the cross are the favorite positions of instructed Christians.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.