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Could anyone please help me understand this quote of Phillips Brooks from the self-help book "Pushing to the front, Chapter LXVI: Rich without money" by Orison Swett Marden:

"A man may as soon fill a chest with grace, or a vessel with virtue," says Phillips Brooks, "as a heart with wealth."

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    They're metaphors. It's hard to say what they specifically mean without more context.
    – Barmar
    Commented Sep 30 at 16:48
  • a chest and a vessel hold objects: A wooden chest, for example. A pewter vessel, for example. Please look things up before asking.
    – Lambie
    Commented Sep 30 at 16:50
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    Grace and virtue are not qualities that can be measured by volume.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Sep 30 at 16:56

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One of the definitions of "vessel" is "a container (such as a cask, bottle, kettle, cup, or bowl) for holding something". "Virtue" is "a particular moral excellence; a commendable quality or trait"

Virtue is not a physical object or substance, so it cannot be placed inside a container in the material world. Filling a vessel with virtue is an example of an impossible action, an unattainable goal.

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    @SaeedVrz (And, that means the main point of the sentence, is that it is equally impossible to "fill" a heart with wealth. Of course Brooks is still speaking in metaphors, because the human heart is a physical object, and so is wealth often, but he's using the common pattern of "heart" to mean "our innermost feelings," and "fill" to mean "be satisfied." I.e., even with wealth, our hearts will "feel empty.")
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Sep 30 at 18:38

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