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“The purpose of life is unquestionably unfoldment, growth, advancement”
Trine states his view of purpose directly: life should continue to develop rather than settle into mental or moral stagnation.
Source note: 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.
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“Something had come to replace his hoard which gave a growing purpose to the earnings, drawing his hope and joy continually onward beyond the money.”
Voice: Narrator voice · Narrator
Money changes meaning when it serves a person rather than replacing relationship; caring for Eppie gives Silas’s work a forward-looking purpose that wealth alone had failed to provide.
Source note: Silas Marner; Eliot contrasts the former hoard with Eppie, whose needs and future redirect Silas’s earnings toward hope, relationship, and practical care.
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“Life is a boundless privilege.”
The sentence frames existence as abundant possibility rather than mere duration, encouraging attention to what can still be learned, attempted, appreciated, and created.
Source note: The Conduct of Life; Emerson uses the line while describing life as an expanding field of experience rather than a narrowly fixed allotment.
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“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
Voice: Fictional character · Caroline Bingley
The line is memorable as praise of reading, though its comic context matters because Miss Bingley says it while performing interest for Darcy.
Source note: Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 11; context is ironic.
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“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.”
Ambitious ideals can shape development when they influence what a person practices and pursues.
Source note: As a Man Thinketh, “Visions and Ideals.”
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“But what a mockery our life would be, without a greater future!”
Hope for a larger future gives present life direction, even though the surrounding parable also cautions against pretending to know exactly what that future will be.
Source note: The Madman, parable of the pomegranate; one voice insists that life without future possibility would feel diminished.