Learn English – What did Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great essayist, mean in this quote from a lecture in 1871

meaningphrase-meaningquotessentence-meaning

What does the quote,

"If a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a
better mousetrap than his neighbor, even if he builds his house in the
woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door"

even mean?

Best Answer

The meaning is pretty much what he writes. A short paraphrase is

If a person can do something better than others, then other people will seek them out.

Specifically:

If a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap...

Those are just examples. He means in general if someone can do something well.

than his neighbour

than other people around him, not just those in his neighbourhood.

even if he builds his house in the woods

even though he lives somewhere remote and hard to get to

the world will make a beaten path to his door

people will put in a lot of effort to get to him. Specifically this refers to making a path through the wood, often done by beating down the shrubs and plants until they can be walked over.

It's worth noting that the phrase 'build a better mousetrap' has passed into the English language as a phrase meaning 'make something better than everyone else', thanks to this quote.

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