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About this quote

What does it mean?
Every individual part holds intrinsic value and connects to the whole, suggesting that even small things matter in the universe.
In plain terms
Every single thing matters and is connected to everything else.
What can you take from it?
Recognize the value of every individual part.

Where it applies

  • community work
  • environmentalism
  • self-worth

Putting it to work

  • praise small contributions
  • connect local to global
  • appreciate details

Questions to consider

  • How do you fit into the whole?
  • What small thing matters most?

Another view

Not every atom or action has equal weight in a practical sense.

More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

  1. Life is too short to waste The critic bite or cynic bark, Quarrel, or reprimand; 'Twill soon be dark; Up! mind thine own aim, and God speed the mark!

    Permalink to quote #166
  2. But all sorts of things and weather Must be taken in together To make up a year, And a sphere.

    Permalink to quote #168
  3. And when his hours are numbered, and the world Is all his own, retiring, as he were not, Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art To mimic in slow structur…

    Permalink to quote #165

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