"A Lesson for the Day; or The Christianity of Christ, of the Church, and of Society" in The Dial (October 1940), p. 196.
Context: Every man has at times in his mind the Ideal of what he should be, but is not. This ideal may be high and complete, or it may be quite low and insufficient; yet in all men, that really seek to improve, it is better than the actual character. Perhaps no one is satisfied with himself, so that he never wishes to be wiser, better, and more holy. Man never falls so low, that he can see nothing higher than himself.
“Every man has seen the wall that limits his mind.”
Tout homme a vu le mur qui borne son esprit.
Poèmes philosophiques, "La flute", line 108; (ed.) Paul Viallaneix Oeuvres complètes (1965) p. 103; translation from Jason Merchey Values of the Wise (2004) p. 200. (1843).
“Christ is the ideal of what a man should be.”
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 109
Context: Christ is the ideal of what a man should be. He has my ideal portrait, as it were, drawn out in His own thought and feeling. There is an exaltation and a grandeur for myself in the time to come, which Christ knows, and I do not; but I am following after. I am pressing up toward that thought that Christ has of what I am and ought to be; and I am determined that I will apprehend it as Christ Himself does. Not that I have it; but I will strive for it. My manhood is in the future. My life lies beyond the present.
“The University's Part in Political Life” (13 March 1909) in PWW (The Papers of Woodrow Wilson) 19:99
1900s
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), History
“A man’s at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with.”
Blood Meridian (1985)
Source: Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
Hyperion http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5436, Bk. III, Ch. IV (1839).
Variant: Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.
Context: "Ah! this beautiful world!" said Flemming, with a smile. "Indeed, I know not what to think of it. Sometimes it is all gladness and sunshine, and Heaven itself lies not far off. And then it changes suddenly; and is dark and sorrowful, and clouds shut out the sky. In the lives of the saddest of us, there are bright days like this, when we feel as if we could take the great world in our arms and kiss it. Then come the gloomy hours, when the fire will neither burn on our hearths nor in our hearts; and all without and within is dismal, cold, and dark. Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad."
"Which Is the Liberal Party?"
Uncommon Law (1935)
Source: The Moral Obligation to be Intelligent (1915), p. 3
Anti-Slavery Speech (January 1852) http://books.google.com/books?id=SCpVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA22 Published in The Works of Wendell Phillips, Street & Smith (1902), p. 22-23
1850s
