The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.

Emerson’s line is a sharp diagnosis of human inconsistency and unfinishedness. Many people, he suggests, are rich in intentions, impulses, and first steps—projects begun, ideals announced, reforms proposed—but poor in follow-through, discipline, or sustained character. The phrase “bundles of beginnings” implies a life made up of starts without continuations: potential without completion. Read in an Emersonian key, it also gestures toward self-reliance and moral development: the individual must convert inspiration into action and cultivate steadiness of purpose. The remark can be taken as both critique (of fickleness and superficial enthusiasm) and exhortation (to become more than a series of promising starts).