…out of such shallow men as we, however solemn we look, how can greatness ever come?

We live in the sun & on the surface a thin, plausible superficial existence & talk of prophet & priest, reform & revolution. But out of such shallow men as we, however solemn we look, how can greatness ever come?

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks 7:8

Posted in: Journals on October 2, 2012 | 1 Comment »
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  1. On October 4, 2012 at 5:12 am Jim Foster Said:

    Mankind live to live. We immerse ourselves with the wind – rain- abrasives of all kinds in natural order and disorder. We have two great teachers-Pain and Love.
    Greatness is achieved by luck – being at the right place at the right time and mentors who occasionally are parents, grandparents and teachers. Our greatness may never be recognized if we don’t want it to be. We are made by our times and the time we are born with.
    We never know what is coming next but we gamble on expectations and this may take a life time to fulfill. We have a terrific choice to make- to believe or not to believe in ourselves. We are aided by everything mentioned here in and/or the element of surprise.

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