When I was praised I lost my time, for instantly I turned around to look at the work I had thought slightly of, and that day I made nothing new.
Interpretation
Praise can distract us from our creative process and hinder productivity.
This quote reflects on the idea that seeking and receiving praise can divert our attention from our work and creativity. Emerson suggests that when he was celebrated for his past achievements, he wasted time reflecting on them instead of focusing on producing new work, showing how external validation can be a hindrance to personal growth and innovation.
In practice
This quote can be used in a workshop about maintaining focus in creative processes.
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?
The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.
It is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not to venture all his eggs in one basket.
Those who are serious in ridiculous matters will be ridiculous in serious matters.
Our self image, strongly held, essentially determines what we become.
Faith is a gift from God and he gives it to whomever he chooses
The essence of practice is always the same: instead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we gradually learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.
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