Inasmuch as the soul is present, there will be power not confident but agent. To talk of reliance is a poor external way of speaking. Speak rather of that which relies, because it works and is. Who has more obedience than I masters me, though he should not raise his finger. Round him I must revolve by the gravitation of spirits. We fancy it rhetoric, when we speak of eminent virtue. We do not yet see that virtue is Height, and that a man or a company of men, plastic and permeable to principles, by the law of nature must overpower and ride all cities, nations, kings, rich men, poets, who are not. This is the ultimate fact which we so quickly reach on this, as on every topic, the resolution of all into the ever-blessed ONE. Self-existence is the attribute of the Supreme Cause, and it constitutes the measure of good by the degree in which it enters into all lower forms. All things real are so by so much virtue as they contain.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- True power comes from inner virtue and self-existence, which naturally influences others without force.
- In plain terms
- Virtue and self-reliance create natural influence over others.
- What can you take from it?
- Live with virtue to naturally lead others.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does virtue influence others?
- What is true power?
Another view
This view may overestimate the impact of individual virtue on systems.
More from Ralph Waldo Emerson
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