To this generation I would say: Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
. . . the weal of the race, and the cause of humanity, here and now, are enough To give life meaning and death as well.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life gains significance through our collective well-being and our commitment to humanity.
This quote by Edgar Lee Masters suggests that the purpose of life is intertwined with the welfare of others and the broader human experience. It implies that our actions in the present, aimed at benefiting society, grant both life and death a deeper meaning, emphasizing the importance of community and altruism in understanding existence.
Themes
MeaningHumanityLifePurposeCommunity
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about social responsibility, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of serving others.
More from Edgar Lee Masters
All quotes βThe tongue may be an unruly member-- But silence poisons the soul.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
Genius is a bend in the creek where bright water has gathered, and which mirrors the trees, the sky and the banks. It just does that because it is there and the scenery is there. Talent is a fine mirror with a silver frame, with the name of the owner engraved on the back.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
To love is to find your own soul Through the soul of the beloved one.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness, But life without meaning is the torture Of restlessness and vague desire-It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
And I never started to plow in my life That some one did not stop in the road And take me away to a dance or picnic. I ended up with forty acres; I ended up with a broken fiddleβ And a broken laugh, and a thousand memories, And not a single regret.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
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For this is the truth about our soul, he thought, who fish-like inhabits deep seas and plies among obscurities threading her way between the boles of giant weeds, over sun-flickered spaces and on and on into gloom, cold, deep, inscrutable; suddenly she shoots to the surface and sports on the wind-wrinkled waves; that is, has a positive need to brush, scrape, kindle herself, gossiping.
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When I was young, I had to choose between the life of being and the life of doing. And I leapt at the latter like a trout to a fly. But each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and to its consequences, and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be. Or wonder who, after all, you are.
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Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate.
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Attachment and aversion are the root cause of karma, and karma originates from infatuation. Karma is the root cause of birth and death, and these are said to be the source of misery. None can escape the effect of their own past karma.
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The more stupid one is, the closer one is to reality. The more stupid one is, the clearer one is. Stupidity is brief and artless, while intelligence squirms and hides itself. Intelligence is unprincipled, but stupidity is honest and straightforward.
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I was always fascinated by people who are considered completely normal, because I find them the weirdest of all
Johnny DeppRead