There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfillment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss. If you serve an ungrateful master, serve him the more. Put God in your debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of integrity and the belief that honest service will ultimately be rewarded, even if it seems unrecognized in the moment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote reminds us that there is an intrinsic value to honest work and service, regardless of whether the people we serve recognize it. He suggests that the universe, or a higher power, holds a record of our deeds and will ensure that our efforts are rewarded in due time, likening it to a debt that accrues compound interest. Thus, even when faced with challenges or ungratefulness, maintaining a spirit of service is valuable and ultimately beneficial to one's spiritual and moral integrity.
In practice
Use this quote in a motivational speech about the value of service and integrity in the workplace.
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?
Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God's holiness and sovereignty...a cknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours.
The world more often rewards the appearances of merit than merit itself.
Darkness deserves gratitude. It is the alleluia point at which we learn to understand that all growth does not take place in the sunlight.
A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, "rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even "to the end of the earth" regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be.
Learn to say 'no' to the good so you can say 'yes' to the best.
I divide the world into three Classes - The few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, the overwhelming majority who have no notion of what happens.
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