"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till" (Emerson 1).
I think that this passage is significant because it really summarizes what life is about; relying on others before you is not good for self improvement. If you focus on what others do, you lose focus on what you can do. The phrase 'envy is ignorance' it signifies that coveting what others have is a way to keep yourself from learning your potential. He uses the metaphor of working the soil for food as improving your own position through work and reaping the rewards like one would reap crops. I like this passage because it summarizes the main point of his essay and provides a good philosophy for life.
No comments:
Post a Comment