Fire is the best of servents; but what a master!
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Fire is useful as a tool but dangerous and demanding to control.
- In plain terms
- Fire is great as a servant but risky as a master.
- What can you take from it?
- Useful tools can become dangerous if not controlled.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What other tools share this double nature?
- How do we manage powerful resources?
Another view
Fire is also essential for human progress and survival.
More from Thomas Carlyle
'A fair day's wages for a fair day's work': it is as just a demand as governed men ever made of governing. It is the everlasting right of man.
Permalink to quote #87 All work, even cotton spinning, is noble; work is alone noble...A life of ease is not for any man, nor for any god.
Permalink to quote #89 The suffering man ought really to consume his own smoke; there is no good in emitting smoke till you have made it into fire.
Permalink to quote #86
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