--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Well, every man has a religion; has…" description: "\"Well, every man has a religion; has something in heaven or earth which he will give up everything else for - something which absorbs him - which may be..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54c/walt-whitman-265_ambition_well-every-man-has-a-religion-has-someth_2902296.jpg" --- # Well, every man has a religion; has something in heaven or… ![“Well, every man has a religion; has something in heaven or earth which he will give up everything else for - something which absorbs him - which may be regarded by others as being useless - yet it is his dream, it is his lodestar, it is his master. That, whatever it is, seized upon me, made me its…” quote by Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54c/walt-whitman-265_ambition_well-every-man-has-a-religion-has-someth_2902296.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54c/walt-whitman-265_ambition_well-every-man-has-a-religion-has-someth_2902296.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54c/walt-whitman-265_ambition_well-every-man-has-a-religion-has-someth_2902296.jpg) > “Well, every man has a religion; has something in heaven or earth which he will give up everything else for - something which absorbs him - which may be regarded by others as being useless - yet it is his dream, it is his lodestar, it is his master. That, whatever it is, seized upon me, made me its servant, slave - induced me to set aside the other ambitions a trail of glory in the heavens, which I followed, followed with a full heart. ...When once I am convinced, I never let go...” [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A personal passion can dominate one’s life, becoming a guiding purpose that outweighs other ambitions. **In simple terms:** A deep dream can become a life‑guiding purpose. Key Takeaway Identify and honor your true calling. Themes purpose devotion identity obsession dreams Mood reflective determined Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career choice - artistic pursuit - spiritual practice - personal relationships Key Concepts existentialism self‑actualization spirituality Questions to Reflect On - What dream drives you most? - How does this devotion affect other areas of your life? A Different Perspective It may cause neglect of other responsibilities or relationships. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Commitment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commitment/) [Convinced](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/convinced/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dream Lodestar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream-lodestar-4133517/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Every man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-man/) [Full Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/full-heart/) [Full hearts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/full-hearts/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Giving up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving-up/) [Glory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/glory/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Heaven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heaven/) [Letting go](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/letting-go/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Man Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-religion/) [Masters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/masters/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Never let go](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/never-let-go/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Religion Heaven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion-heaven-3176248/) [Servant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servant/) [Servant Slave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servant-slave-739994/) [Slave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slave/) [Trails](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trails/) [Useless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/useless/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) ## Related quotes > [The modern world has created airports and hospitals and put 10,000 songs in our pocket. It has built gleaming buildings and computers and advances…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/the-modern-world-has-created-airports-and-hospitals-and-put-10-000/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [Love's sweetest meanings are unspoken; the full heart knows no rhetoric of words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-s-sweetest-meanings-are-unspoken-the-full-heart-knows-no/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What is our family? We touch our full hearts and see ourselves reflected whole in each other's eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-anne-radmacher/what-is-our-family-we-touch-our-full-hearts-and-see-ourselves/) [Mary Anne Radmacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-anne-radmacher/) > [In many ways doth the full heart reveal The presence of the love it would conceal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/in-many-ways-doth-the-full-heart-reveal-the-presence-of-the-love-it/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/clear-eyes-full-hearts-can-t-lose/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-b-eyring/it-is-serving-god-and-others-persistently-with-full-heart-and-soul/) [Henry B. Eyring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-b-eyring/) > [To the Christian, love is the works of love. To say that love is a feeling or anything of the kind is an unchristian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/to-the-christian-love-is-the-works-of-love-to-say-that-love-is-a/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-of-assisi/remember-that-when-you-leave-this-earth-you-can-take-with-you-nothing/) [Francis of Assisi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-of-assisi/) > [When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. It is like the fountain in the marketplace; whenever it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/when-the-heart-is-full-of-joy-it-always-allows-its-joy-to-escape-it/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [A composition which dazzles at first sight by gaudy epithets, or brilliant turns or expression, or glittering trains of imagery, may fade gradually from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-percy-whipple/a-composition-which-dazzles-at-first-sight-by-gaudy-epithets-or/) [Edwin Percy Whipple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-percy-whipple/) > [None but those who have loved can be supposed to understand the oratory of the eye, the mute eloquence of a look, or the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-nestell-bovee/none-but-those-who-have-loved-can-be-supposed-to-understand-the/) [Christian Nestell Bovee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-nestell-bovee/) > [What makes poetry? A full heart, brimful of one noble passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/what-makes-poetry-a-full-heart-brimful-of-one-noble-passion/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [What discord we should bring into the universe if our prayers were all answered. Then we should govern the world and not God. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/what-discord-we-should-bring-into-the-universe-if-our-prayers-were/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [The death of Jesus was the opening and the emptying of the full heart of God; it was the outgushing of that ocean of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavius-winslow/the-death-of-jesus-was-the-opening-and-the-emptying-of-the-full-heart/) [Octavius Winslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavius-winslow/) > [Don't worry about finding your bliss right now. Not even our President knew what his bliss was, nor did I. One of these days…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-walters/don-t-worry-about-finding-your-bliss-right-now-not-even-our-president/) [Barbara Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-walters/) ## More by Walt Whitman > [O lands! O all so dear to me - what you are, I become part of that, whatever it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/o-lands-o-all-so-dear-to-me-what-you-are-i-become-part-of-that/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [“Each of us inevitable, Each of us limitless—each of us with his or her right upon the earth, Each of us allow'd the eternal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/each-of-us-inevitable-each-of-us-limitless-each-of-us-with-his-or-her/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Comerado, this is no book,Who touches this, touches a man,(Is it night? Are we here alone?)It is I you hold, and who holds you,I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/comerado-this-is-no-book-who-touches-this-touches-a-man-is-it-night/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [I have sometimes thought that the laws ought not to punish those actions of evil which are committed when the senses are steeped in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-have-sometimes-thought-that-the-laws-ought-not-to-punish-those/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/oh-while-i-live-to-be-the-ruler-of-life-not-a-slave-to-meet-life-as-a/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [“it makes such difference where you read”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/it-makes-such-difference-where-you-read/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Wisdom is not finally tested in the schools, Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it, Wisdom is of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/wisdom-is-not-finally-tested-in-the-schools-wisdom-cannot-be-pass-d/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Strange, (is it not?) that battles, martyrs, blood, even assassination should so condense - perhaps only really lastingly condense - a Nationality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/strange-is-it-not-that-battles-martyrs-blood-even-assassination/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [I think I could always live with animals. The more you're around people, the more you love animals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-think-i-could-always-live-with-animals-the-more-you-re-around/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [“I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, The pleasures of heaven are with me and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-am-the-poet-of-the-body-and-i-am-the-poet-of-the-soul-the-pleasures/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [So here I sit in the early candle-light of old age-I and my book-casting backward glances over out travel'd road.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/so-here-i-sit-in-the-early-candle-light-of-old-age-i-and-my-book/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/re-examine-all-you-have-been-told-dismiss-what-insults-your-soul/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun, and animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/this-is-what-you-shall-do-love-the-earth-and-sun-and-animals-despise/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Each of us inevitable; Each of us limitless-each of us with his or her right upon the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/each-of-us-inevitable-each-of-us-limitless-each-of-us-with-his-or-her-2/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Silence? What can New York-noisy, roaring, rumbling, tumbling, bustling, story, turbulent New York-have to do with silence? Amid the universal clatter, the incessant din…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/silence-what-can-new-york-noisy-roaring-rumbling-tumbling-bustling/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) [Explore all 775 Walt Whitman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) ## More Ambition quotes > [Ambition drives you on, ability certainly helps, but the fickle finger of fate and luck are great things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fergus-henderson/ambition-drives-you-on-ability-certainly-helps-but-the-fickle-finger/) [Fergus Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fergus-henderson/) > [One needs more than ambition and talent to make a success of anything, really. There must be love and a vocation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessye-norman/one-needs-more-than-ambition-and-talent-to-make-a-success-of-anything/) [Jessye Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessye-norman/) > [I just think my own ambition would not allow me to sit on the gifts that my creator had given me. And so that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/i-just-think-my-own-ambition-would-not-allow-me-to-sit-on-the-gifts/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-man-s-worth-is-no-greater-than-the-worth-of-his-ambitions/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm hungry and ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julen-lopetegui/i-m-hungry-and-ambitious/) [Julen Lopetegui](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julen-lopetegui/) > [“I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-ferguson/i-was-ambitious-and-desperate-to-direct-my-first-film-so-i/) [Craig Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-ferguson/) > [I was always attracted most to joining City, and I am pleased to be at such a good club with such a big ambition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edin-dzeko/i-was-always-attracted-most-to-joining-city-and-i-am-pleased-to-be-at/) [Edin Dzeko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edin-dzeko/) > [Work towards your goal and dont watch the post size,its either they hate,or like you.there is no room for both sides.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-buabeng/work-towards-your-goal-and-dont-watch-the-post-size-its-either-they/) [Isaac Buabeng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-buabeng/) > [“But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-young-men-have-not-only-this-frivolous-ambition-of-being-thought/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I almost never have a plan for myself... I'm not ambitious in that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-plimpton/i-almost-never-have-a-plan-for-myself-i-m-not-ambitious-in-that-way/) [Martha Plimpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-plimpton/) > [I play for high stakes and given an audience - there is no act too daring or too noble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-play-for-high-stakes-and-given-an-audience-there-is-no-act-too/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There's nothing worse than a leader who lacks ambition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-s-nothing-worse-than-a-leader-who-lacks-ambition/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If i can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition i have is nothing but talk..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoro/if-i-can-t-even-protect-my-captain-s-dream-then-whatever-ambition-i/) [Zoro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoro/) > [It may seem unattainable but if you put actions, your heart and your mind into it, you will prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/london-mond/it-may-seem-unattainable-but-if-you-put-actions-your-heart-and-your/) [London Mond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/london-mond/) > [Obligation is what's leading us to toward successful, and what keeps us moving towards the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wazim-shaw/obligation-is-what-s-leading-us-to-toward-successful-and-what-keeps/) [Wazim Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wazim-shaw/) [Browse all 4,601 Ambition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Well, every man has a religion; has something in heaven or earth which he will give up everything else for - something which absorbs him - which may be regarded by others as being useless - yet it is his dream, it is his lodestar, it is his master. 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