Work and thou canst escape the reward; whether the work be fine or course, planting corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work, done to thine own approbation, it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the thought.
Interpretation
Honest work brings fulfillment and rewards, regardless of its nature.
Ralph Waldo Emersonβs quote emphasizes that the value of work lies in its honesty and personal satisfaction rather than the nature of the work itself. Whether one is engaged in simple tasks like planting corn or complex endeavors like writing epics, as long as the effort is sincere and meets one's own standards, it will yield rewards that enrich both the senses and the mind.
In practice
In a motivational speech about dedication and hard work, this quote can inspire the audience to value their efforts.
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 best of ideas is hurt by uncritical acceptance and thrives on critical examination.
Don't be swayed by the false values and goals of this world, but put Christ and his will first in everything you do.
It's pretty unhealthy to obsess over what people think about you.
It's very common for people to recommend something to me because they're going on what I've already written, when, what really is the case, is that you want to write about something you haven't written about, in ways that you haven't done before.
We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.
Fools!" said the man, stamping his foot with rage. "That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams β dreams, do you understand β come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.
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