So . . . I feel in regard to this aged England . . . pressed upon by transitions of trade and . . . competing populations,-I see her not dispirited, not weak, but well remembering that she has seen dark days before;-indeed, with a kind of instinct that she sees a little better in a cloudy day, and that, in storm of battle and calamity, she has a secret vigor and a pulse like a cannon.
Interpretation
The quote reflects resilience and strength in adversity, emphasizing the importance of history and memory in overcoming challenges.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote speaks to the enduring spirit of England, suggesting that despite facing significant challenges and changes, the nation remains strong and resilient. He highlights the idea that past experiences of hardship have equipped England with a unique strength to navigate current trials, indicating that adversity can enhance one's ability to thrive in difficult times.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming challenges, one might quote Emerson to inspire strength in the audience.
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?
Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation, this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly.
The number of rooms in a fictional house should be inversely proportional to the years during which the couple living in that house enjoyed true happiness.
The New Testament is a brutal destroyer of human illusions. If you follow Jesus and don't end up dead, it appears you have some explaining to do. The stark signifier of the human condition is one who spoke up for love and justice and was done to death for his pains. The traumatic truth of human history is a mutilated body.
War used to be something you could stand on the nearby hill and watch. Now we have total war; everybody's in it. We have total economics as well. Everything affects everybody. The Malaysian currency shakes, and people around the world are seriously affected.
Orlando naturally loved solitary places, vast views, and to feel himself for ever and ever and ever alone.
I don't know why I still find it so hard to accept that words are faulty and by their very nature innacurate
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