The religions are obsolete when the reforms do not proceed from them. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Among provocative, the next best thing to good preaching is bad preaching. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The reliance on authority measures the decline of religion, the withdrawal of the soul. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Out from the heart of Nature rolled The burdens of the Bible old. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“In the woods is perpetual youth. In the woods we return to faith and reason.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Instead of making Christianity a vehicle of truth, you make truth only a horse for Christianity. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Being perfectly well-dressed gives a feeling of tranquillity that religion is powerless to bestow. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The great man, that is, the man most imbued with the spirit of the time, is the impressionable man. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is genius as well in virtue as in intellect. 'Tis the doctrine of faith over works. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Draw, if thou canst, the mystic line, Severing rightly his from thine, Which is human, which divine. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The spirit of our American radicalism is destructive and aimless; it is not loving; it has no ulterior and divine ends; but… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A believer, a mind whose faith is consciousness, is never disturbed because other persons do not yet see the fact which he… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Preaching is the expression of the moral sentiment in application to the duties of life. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But I go with my friend to the shore of our little river, and with one stroke of the paddle, I leave… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Dear to us are those who love us... but dearer are those who reject us as unworthy, for they add another life;… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We infer the spirit of the nation in great measure from the language, which is a sort of monument, to which each… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In our definitions, we grope after the spiritual by describing it as invisible. The true meaning of spiritual is real; that law… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is a sign of our times, conspicuous to the coarsest observer, that many intelligent and religious persons withdraw themselves from the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity the heat of his own fire hath sadness… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
My life is superficial, takes no root in the deep world; I ask, When shall I die, and be relieved of the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet. Then all things are at risk. It is as when… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“Prayer that craves a particular commodity, -- anything less than all good, -- is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The unique impression of Jesus upon mankind - whose name is not so much written as ploughed into the history of the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“All things are moral; and in their boundless changes have an unceasing reference to spiritual nature. Therefore is nature glorious with form,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“Thus to him, to this school-boy under the bending dome of day, is suggested, that he and it proceed from one root;… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The moment the doctrine of the immortality is separately taught, man is already fallen. In the flowing of love, in the adoration… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Where dwells the religion? Tell me first where dwells electricity, or motion, or thought or gesture. They do not dwell or stay… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey. There is guidance for each of us, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Tis a short sight to limit our faith in laws to those of gravity, of chemistry, of botany, and so forth. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If thought makes free, so does the moral sentiment. The mixtures of spiritual chemistry refuse to be analyzed. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure, that it is profane to seek to interpose helps. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion of well-doing and daring. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Science always goes abreast with the just elevation of the man, keeping step with religion and metaphysics; or, the state of science… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The evils of popular government appear greater than they are; there is compensation for them in spirit and energy it awakens. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Great men are they who see that the spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
For a great nature, it is a happiness to escape a religious training; religion of character is so apt to be invaded. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
No man can be criticised but by a greater than he. Do not, then, read the reviews. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share
