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How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
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“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.”

William Shakespeare

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Source
The Merchant of Venice
Date
c. 1596
Local voice
Fictional character · Portia
Meaning

Meaning of “How far that little candle throws his beams!…”

A small good action can remain visible precisely because it contrasts with a difficult environment.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Act 5, Scene 1.

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Speaker context

Why the local voice matters

Portia says this to Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1, while approaching Belmont by night.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

CommunityCompassionHelping OthersHope Quotes About Possibility in Uncertain TimesHumanityInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityKindnessMotivation For LifeMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistenceOptimism Quotes About Constructive ExpectationPositive Quotes About a Constructive OutlookServiceShortGood Deeds
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Continue through nearby ideas

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he who, forgetting self, makes the object of his life service, helpfulness, and kindliness to others, finds his whole nature growing and expanding
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“he who, forgetting self, makes the object of his life service, helpfulness, and kindliness to others, finds his whole nature growing and expanding”

Ralph Waldo Trine · What All The World's A-Seeking · 1896
Meaning & context

Trine makes service a life-purpose and predicts personal enlargement through it, connecting outward usefulness with an increasingly generous and developed character.

Source details

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.

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life is the end and aim of consumption.
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“life is the end and aim of consumption.”

John Ruskin · Unto This Last and Other Essays on Political Economy · 1862
Meaning & context

Consumption is judged by what it ultimately does for human life, making economic activity a means rather than an end in itself within Ruskin’s argument.

Source details

Unto This Last, fourth essay; Project Gutenberg #36541. The line follows Ruskin’s distinction between production and consumption and retains the nineteenth-century political-economy setting.

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You can make a little Eden of the sphere you occupy.
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“You can make a little Eden of the sphere you occupy.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox · Poems of Power · 1903
Meaning & context

The line narrows improvement to the area a person can actually influence, suggesting that better conduct and kinder action can make a local environment more humane.

Source details

Poems of Power, “Wishing,” published 1903; Project Gutenberg #6667. The surrounding stanzas urge personal action when wishing for a better, wiser or happier world.

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