The sequoias belong to the silences of the milleniums. Many of them have seen a hundred human generations rise, give off their little clamors and perish. They seem indeed to be forms of immortality standing here amoing the transitory shapes of time.
Interpretation
The sequoias symbolize eternal endurance and witness the fleeting nature of human existence.
In this quote, Edwin Markham reflects on the ancient sequoia trees, which have stood tall for millennia, observing countless human lives come and go. They represent a form of immortality, contrasting the transient nature of humanity, as these majestic trees continue to thrive while human generations rise and fall.
In practice
In a speech about environmental conservation, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of protecting ancient trees.
Greed and Gain, grim guardians of the great god Mammon, continually cry in the ears of the poor, 'Give us your little ones!' And forever do the poor push out their little ones at the imperious ukase, feeding the children to a blind Hunger that is never filled.
Sorrows come to stretch out places in the heart for joy.
There is a destiny which makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.
The crest and crowning of all good, life's final star, is Brotherhood.
He drew a circle that shut me out- Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle and took him In ! From the poem " Outwitted
For all your days be prepared, and meet them ever alike. When you are the anvil, bear - when you are the hammer, strike.
As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can".
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal.
I want my body to help fertilize the growth of a cactus or cliff rose or sagebrush or tree.
It were happy if we studied nature more in natural things; and acted according to nature, whose rules are few, plain, and most reasonable.
Resource efficiency is the wrong metric. We should use nature as the measure, using nature's wisdom as a template for our economic systems.
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