“ How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of nature! ”
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four (1890). copy citation
| Author | Arthur Conan Doyle |
|---|---|
| Source | The Sign of the Four |
| Topic | modesty ambition nature |
| Date | 1890 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2097/2097-h/2097-h.htm |
Context
“But you will know all about it soon enough. How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of nature! Are you well up in your Jean Paul?»
«Fairly so. I worked back to him through Carlyle.»
«That was like following the brook to the parent lake. He makes one curious but profound remark. It is that the chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.” source
«Fairly so. I worked back to him through Carlyle.»
«That was like following the brook to the parent lake. He makes one curious but profound remark. It is that the chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.” source
Meaning and analysis
