Growth quotes — Page 4

Gitanjali, poem 4, in Tagore’s own prose translations from Bengali; Project Gutenberg #7164. The omitted continuation explicitly attributes the strength to act to the divine addressee, so the line remains religious rather than generic productivity advice.

Stray Birds, aphorism 25, translated by Tagore from Bengali; Project Gutenberg #6524. The compact line is poetic-philosophical and is not presented as a modern developmental-psychology claim.

Essay “Experience,” Essays: Second Series.

Essay “History,” in Essays: First Series; the image appears in a passage about latent possibility.

Essay “Progress of Culture,” later collected in Letters and Social Aims.

The Conduct of Life; the line connects knowledge of life with accumulated experience and the lessons that experience makes intelligible.

The Conduct of Life; Emerson presents another person’s demanding encouragement as a form of service that calls forth unrealized ability.

In Tune with the Infinite; or, Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty, Preface, Project Gutenberg #23559. 'What one has done, all may do' follows Trine's claim that great religious and spiritual figures acted in accordance with a universal law. It remains New Thought-era possibility rhetoric and spiritual philosophy, not empirical evidence that every person can reproduce every achievement regardless of circumstance.

The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit; Project Gutenberg #28163. The surrounding text describes evolution from “lower” to “higher” in spiritual terms; this is Trine’s philosophical-religious position, not a scientific law of human development.

The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit, Chapter I, “The Silent, Subtle Building Forces of Mind and Spirit,” Project Gutenberg #28163. Trine opens with moments when people glimpse a life beyond their present one, then develops New Thought and metaphysical claims about latent powers, spirit and “mental and spiritual science.” It is historical religious-metaphysical self-development rhetoric, not modern psychology or neuroscience.

What All The World’s A-Seeking, Part III, “The Unfoldment,” printed page 75 in the represented 1896 page-text witness, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #14312. Trine says “the true joy of existence comes from living to one’s highest” immediately after urging the reader to “live to your highest.” It remains historical New Thought / conduct-of-life counsel rather than a claim that striving automatically removes hardship or produces happiness in every circumstance.

What All The World’s A-Seeking, Part III, “The Unfoldment,” opening verse, printed page 67 in the represented 1896 page-text witness, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #14312. The retained two-line excerpt opens a longer stanza joining growth and hoped-for contentment with kindliness, love, goodwill and service; it remains poetic-spiritual counsel rather than an empirical promise of complete happiness.

What All The World’s A-Seeking, Part I, “The Principle,” printed page 29 in the represented 1896 page-text witness, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #14312. Trine argues that a person who forgets self in service, helpfulness and kindliness finds the self “growing and expanding.” This remains historical conduct-of-life / New Thought moral argument rather than a guaranteed psychological outcome from service.

Nature Near London, Preface, Project Gutenberg #18629. The represented witness reads 'First, as the spring began, came crowds of chiffchaffs and willow-wrens'; the frozen catalog excerpt begins with 'as the spring began' and therefore drops the introductory 'First,'. Jefferies is recording one local observational experience near London, explicitly warning later in the Preface that season, locality and weather vary; it is not a universal present-day phenology schedule.

The Tatler No. 147; the comparison presents reading as a form of regular exercise for the mind.

“Andrea del Sarto,” first published in Men and Women (1855), represented by Poetry Foundation. The line is spoken by Browning’s fictionalized Renaissance painter Andrea del Sarto while reflecting on artistic perfection, ambition and limitation; it is dramatic monologue rather than Browning speaking autobiographically.

“Rabbi Ben Ezra” (1864), represented in Project Gutenberg #59123, The Works of Robert Browning. The poem speaks through Browning’s imagined Rabbi Ben Ezra and is explicitly theistic; its confidence about age and providence is poetic-religious argument rather than a factual guarantee about later life.

Familiar Studies of Men and Books, essay ‘Henry David Thoreau: His Character and Opinions,’ section V, Project Gutenberg #425, transcribed from the 1896 Chatto & Windus edition. The surrounding paragraph quotes several Thoreau statements, but ‘To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming...’ is Stevenson's own connective judgment before he returns to quoted Thoreau language. It therefore remains Stevenson literary-biographical criticism rather than a Thoreau quotation or a clinical rule about self-development.

If—, third stanza; the surrounding passage describes losing one’s winnings and beginning again.

Acres of Diamonds; Conwell repeatedly argues that useful opportunity can be found and developed near one’s existing circumstances.

Every Man His Own University, Chapter I, “Every Man’s University,” Project Gutenberg #36955, copyright 1917 witness. Conwell opens the chapter with “A distinct university walks about under each man’s hat” and develops the metaphor through observation, reading and independent thought. It is historical motivational/educational rhetoric, not evidence that formal education is unnecessary.

What You Can Do With Your Will Power, Chapter I, Project Gutenberg #33952. Conwell compares the future to unwrought marble while arguing for will and determination; the surrounding 1917 passage makes sweeping claims about heredity, environment, health and success. This remains historical motivational rhetoric rather than modern psychological or scientific evidence.

The Idler, No. 88; Johnson is discussing a fictional philosophical society whose grand plans meet the slow pace of practical improvement.

The Idler, No. 88; the surrounding paragraph concerns private hopes, proposed tasks and the gap between imagined achievement and lived action.

The Rambler, No. 103.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles opens the chapter by presenting character as a major moral and social force, then distinguishes its influence from intellectual talent, wealth and position.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles places the sentence in his discussion of veracity and reliableness, arguing that talent or genius cannot command durable confidence unless conduct can be trusted.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. The sentence follows Smiles’s claim that character is formed through minute circumstances and daily discipline, emphasizing that even apparently trivial acts carry consequences.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles introduces the sentence while explaining that character is formed by many minute circumstances under partial individual control, so each day contributes discipline for good or ill.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. It immediately follows the discussion of small acts and daily discipline, with Smiles describing action, thought and feeling as continuously educating temper, habits and understanding.

Self-Help, Chapter XIII, “Character—The True Gentleman,” Project Gutenberg #935. Near the opening of the chapter, Smiles defines character as moral order embodied in the individual and describes people of character as the conscience and motive power of society.

Self-Help, Chapter XI, “Self-Culture—Facilities and Difficulties,” Project Gutenberg #935. The passage follows Charles James Fox’s contrast between early success and perseverance after failure, then leads into examples of discoveries and learning produced through mistakes and failed attempts.

Self-Help, Chapter IV, “Application and Perseverance,” Project Gutenberg #935. The sentence opens a paragraph that continues, “Great results cannot be achieved at once,” and compares advancement in life to walking step by step.

Self-Help, Chapter XII, “Example—Models,” Project Gutenberg #935. Smiles argues that character education depends heavily on models because people unconsciously mould themselves after the characters, manners, habits and opinions around them.

Self-Help, Chapter I, “Self-Help—National and Individual,” Project Gutenberg #935. This is the opening chapter’s statement of Smiles’s self-help argument, where individual initiative is presented as a source of personal growth and, in his period framework, national strength.

Self-Help, Chapter XI, “Self-Culture—Facilities and Difficulties,” Project Gutenberg #935. In the discussion of decision and promptitude, Smiles argues that excessive guidance can weaken self-reliance and that lack of confidence can obstruct improvement by discouraging prompt action.

Self-Help, Chapter I, “Self-Help—National and Individual,” Project Gutenberg #935. The sentence immediately follows Smiles’s statement that the spirit of self-help is the root of individual growth. It is preserved as Victorian conduct-of-life rhetoric, not as evidence that receiving help is generally harmful.

The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson, Chapter IV, “The Stephensons at Killingworth—Education and Self-Education of Father and Son”; represented 1868 revised edition, Project Gutenberg #46229. The excerpt is Smiles’s narration of Stephenson’s patient arithmetic study under John Wigham.

Thrift, Chapter II, “Habits of Thrift,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence completes Smiles’s practical paragraph on forming habits of economy: repeated thrift becomes easier and eventually compensates the self-denial it initially requires.

Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. After describing thrift as learned rather than instinctive, Smiles defines it as an acquired principle of conduct involving self-denial, reason, forethought and prudence.

Thrift, Chapter II, “Habits of Thrift,” Project Gutenberg #14418. In a discussion of self-improvement and moral independence, Smiles presents self-respect as the impulse that makes a person rise, develop intelligence and improve condition.

Thrift, Chapter II, “Habits of Thrift,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence summarizes Smiles’s preceding argument that social improvement begins with individual conduct, example and self-respect before one attempts to elevate others.

Thrift, Preface; original Preface dated London, November 1875, verified in Project Gutenberg #14418’s represented John Murray Fiftieth Thousand witness (London, 1892). Smiles introduces the book as a sequel to Self-Help and Character and writes that thrift is the basis of Self-Help and the foundation of much that is excellent in Character. This remains Victorian conduct-of-life and moral-economic argument rather than current financial guidance.

The Country of the Pointed Firs, opening chapter, represented by Project Gutenberg #367. This is first-person literary narration about the narrator’s return to Dunnet Landing; the lower-case opening is preserved because the quotation is a clause excerpted from a longer sentence.

Of Peace of Mind, section VI, Aubrey Stewart translation (1889), cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #64576 and Wikisource. Seneca orders practical deliberation as an examination of oneself, the proposed business, and the people for whose sake or in whose company it will be done.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter IX; Seneca describes the engrossed reaching old age unprepared because they failed to notice its daily approach.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter XIX; Seneca urges a move from borrowed busyness toward study, virtue, and a more deliberate course of life.

Dhammapada 158, Chapter XII “Self,” Max Müller translation; the sequence emphasizes governing one’s own conduct before attempting to guide others.

Dhammapada 163 in Max Müller’s translation; the verse contrasts actions harmful to oneself with the harder work of choosing what is beneficial and good.

Dhammapada 165, Chapter XII “Self,” Max Müller translation; “purity” is religious-ethical language from the source, not a claim about personal worth or bodily purity.

Latter-Day Pamphlets, No. IV “The New Downing Street”; Project Gutenberg #1140. Carlyle is discussing England amid nineteenth-century political and social crisis, not giving a context-free personal wellness instruction.

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, the lecture on the Hero as Man of Letters.

Sartor Resartus, Book II, Chapter IX, “The Everlasting Yea,” printed page 156 / Wikisource scan leaf 188 in The Works of Thomas Carlyle, Centenary Edition, Vol. I (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896). “Doubt of any sort cannot be removed except by Action” appears inside Teufelsdröckh’s spiritual conversion and Carlyle’s claim that conviction becomes meaningful through conduct. This collection preserves the fictional-philosophical voice and religious setting rather than presenting the line as uncomplicated Carlyle autobiography or a modern psychological rule.

“The Last Chrysanthemum,” Project Gutenberg #3168. The corpse comparison is figurative seasonal language inside the poem.

“The Last Chrysanthemum,” Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), Project Gutenberg #3168. Floral death is poetic seasonal imagery, not literal human bereavement.

Common Sense (1776), Introduction. The represented wording is verified in Project Gutenberg #147 and the validated scan-backed Wikisource 1776 sixth-edition transcription; Paine follows his warning that custom can make an error look right by observing that time often changes opinion where argument initially does not.

Common Sense (1776), Introduction. The represented opening sentence is verified in Project Gutenberg #147 and the validated scan-backed Wikisource transcription; Paine argues that familiarity can make a wrong practice appear right before public argument unsettles the custom.

Candide, Chapter XXX, Project Gutenberg #19942, uncredited public-domain English translation. Candide says “that we must cultivate our garden” to Pangloss and Martin near the tale’s close after reflecting on the old Turk’s life of work. This is translated fictional dialogue and literary resolution, not Voltaire autobiography or a literal guarantee that work resolves every hardship.

Leaves of Grass (1882), “Song of the Broad-Axe,” section 4; Wikisource 1882 transcription. The line appears after “And the dead advance as much as the living advance” and before Whitman turns from institutions and structures toward the personal qualities he says endure.

Appreciations, with an Essay on Style, essay “Style,” printed page 21 in the Macmillan 1910 Library Edition pagination reproduced by Project Gutenberg #4037. “in literary as in all other art, structure is all-important” introduces Pater’s architectural account of composition, where a work’s end is foreseen in its beginning and each part remains conscious of the rest.

Appreciations, with an Essay on Style, essay “Wordsworth,” printed page 42 in the Macmillan 1910 Library Edition pagination reproduced by Project Gutenberg #4037. The reading-between-the-lines passage follows Pater’s claim that Wordsworth-reading can train aesthetic discrimination; he attributes to receptive readers a habit of inference plus faith in concentration and collectedness of mind. This remains nineteenth-century literary criticism rather than cognitive-science evidence.

Appreciations, with an Essay on Style, essay “Style,” printed page 5 in the standard Macmillan 1910 Library Edition pagination reproduced by Project Gutenberg #4037. “all progress of mind consists for the most part in differentiation...” opens Pater’s argument by distinguishing prose, verse and poetry. This is literary-aesthetic criticism, not a modern experimental claim about cognition or learning.

The Renaissance, Conclusion; Project Gutenberg #2398. The metaphor belongs to Pater’s aesthetic philosophy and should not be reduced to generic productivity advice.

The Renaissance, Preface; Project Gutenberg #2398. “These impressions” refers to responses produced by art, landscape, personality and other aesthetic objects.

The Renaissance, Conclusion; Project Gutenberg #2398. The line belongs to Pater’s historically controversial conclusion on experience and culture.

The Renaissance, Conclusion; Project Gutenberg #2398. The sentence names Comte, Hegel and one’s own orthodoxy in its immediate continuation.

The Song of the Lark, Part VI, Chapter X, Project Gutenberg #44. ‘Artistic growth is... a refining of the sense of truthfulness’ is narrator reflection immediately after Harsanyi calls passion the artist's ‘open secret’ and as Thea Kronborg comes into fuller command of her mature performance. It belongs to Cather's fictional account of artistic formation and performance, not an empirical measurement of artistic development or a guarantee that all artists mature in the same way.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, “Proverbs of Hell”; Blake presents the line as a deliberately paradoxical aphorism about experience and limits.

Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty, “The Kingship of Self-Control.” Project Gutenberg #51469. The line belongs to late-nineteenth-century self-mastery literature and is not evidence that circumstance is irrelevant.

Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty, opening essay. Jordan’s language is philosophical and motivational, with period assumptions about agency that should not be substituted for modern psychological evidence.

Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty, Chapter XIV, “Failure as a Success,” Project Gutenberg #51469. “Failure is often the turning-point...” follows Jordan’s account of a failed log-rafting experiment that nevertheless generated useful hydrographic observations. The word “often” is retained: this is conduct-of-life rhetoric about possible redirection after failure, not a guarantee that failure produces improvement.

The Majesty of Calmness, “Failure as a Success.” The passage is motivational interpretation, not a promise that every loss will produce a better outcome.

The Majesty of Calmness, “The Dignity of Self-Reliance.” The represented 1900 work is public domain; the investment metaphor belongs to Jordan’s conduct-of-life rhetoric, not financial advice.

The Power of Truth, “People Who Live in Air-Castles.” The line is a present-action argument within conduct-of-life writing, not a literal denial of memory, planning or future obligations.

The Power of Truth, “People Who Live in Air-Castles.” The military imagery is metaphorical and belongs to a critique of substituting fantasy for execution.

Pragmatism, Lecture II, “What Pragmatism Means”; Project Gutenberg #5116. The sentence follows James’s claim that theories become instruments rather than final answers.

Talks To Teachers, chapter on Habit; Project Gutenberg #16287. This is the opening clause of James’s third habit-forming maxim; the longer sentence also refers to emotional promptings toward desired habits.

Talks To Teachers, chapter on Habit; Project Gutenberg #16287. James calls this his fifth practical maxim about habits. The physiological vocabulary is historical psychology, not modern clinical guidance.

Talks To Teachers, chapter on Habit; Project Gutenberg #16287. The line follows James’s maxim against allowing exceptions before a new habit is secure; its nervous-system terminology is historically contextualized.

The Will to Believe, essay “The Will to Believe”; Project Gutenberg #26659. James is contrasting the risk of being mistaken with the cost of refusing every uncertain intellectual venture.

Hopes and Fears for Art, lecture “Making the Best of It”; Project Gutenberg #3773. The sentence addresses artistic workmanship rather than claiming every form of labor is art.

Hopes and Fears for Art, lecture “The Art of the People”; Project Gutenberg #3773. The counsel is explicitly directed to people studying or practicing art.

News from Nowhere, Old Hammond’s historical explanation of the utopian society; Project Gutenberg #3261. This is fictional dialogue, not a direct autobiographical maxim by Morris.

Signs of Change, lecture “Useful Work versus Useless Toil”; Project Gutenberg #3053. “Thus” refers to creative work engaging mind, memory, imagination and bodily effort.

Signs of Change, lecture “Dawn of a New Epoch”; Project Gutenberg #3053. The sentence occurs inside Morris’s proposed organization of socially useful labor.

Signs of Change, lecture “The Aims of Art”; Project Gutenberg #3053. The passage belongs to Morris’s socialist argument about labor, leisure and art in daily life.

Signs of Change, lecture “Useful Work versus Useless Toil,” beginning on printed page 141, Project Gutenberg #3053. Morris defines the hope that makes work worth doing as hope of rest, useful product and pleasure in the work itself, then summarizes those three elements in the retained sentence. It remains socialist moral and economic argument about labor, not a universal workplace-satisfaction metric.

Some Fruits of Solitude, Preface, reviewed against the Oxford Text Archive transcription of the licensed 1693 edition. Penn says time is what people want most but use worst and immediately frames stewardship of time in explicitly religious accountability to God, neighbour and self; it remains Quaker conduct-of-life reflection rather than productivity research.

As You Like It, Act II, Scene 1, Duke Senior; 1919 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Jack R. Crawford, printed page 24 / Wikisource scan leaf 36. “Sweet are the uses of adversity” occurs in Duke Senior’s Forest of Arden reflection on exile, winter and the lessons he claims to find outside court life. It remains fictional dramatic speech rather than Shakespeare’s autobiographical advice or a modern psychological claim about hardship.

Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5; Ophelia speaks during her disrupted state, so the line remains dramatic dialogue rather than Shakespearean autobiography.

King Lear, Act V, Scene III, reviewed against the scan-backed First Folio facsimile. Edmund says 'The Wheele is come full circle, I am heere' after Edgar identifies himself and describes their father's suffering; the retained quote modernizes spelling and trims the following clause.

The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1; Antonio says this while urging Sebastian toward a conspiracy against Alonso. The phrase is therefore embedded in morally compromised dramatic persuasion rather than neutral advice.

Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 5; 1922 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by George Henry Nettleton, printed page 43 / Wikisource scan leaf 55. Malvolio reads “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them” from Maria’s forged letter written in Olivia’s supposed voice as part of the prank. The maxim remains an embedded deceptive written voice rather than Malvolio’s original saying or Shakespeare’s direct advice about success.

Poem “My Heart Leaps Up.”