Time is indeed the theater and seat of illusions; nothing is so ductile and elastic. The mind stretches an hour to a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nature is full of freaks, and now puts an old head on young shoulders, and then takes a young heart heating under… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But to most of us society shows not its face and eye, but its side and back. To stand in true relations… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Throughout the ages there have always been those who have been willing to go beyond the norms and reach for that unknown… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Congratulate yourselves if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I find it a great and fatal difference whether I court the Muse, or the Muse courts me. That is the ugly… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Every reform was once a private opinion, and when it shall be a private opinion again, it will solve the problem of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Every true man is a cause, a country, and an age; requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish his… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In youth, we clothe ourselves with rainbows, with hope & love, & go as brave as the zodiack. In age we put… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Look sharply after your own thoughts. They come unlooked for, like a new bird seen on your trees, and, if you turn… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But I cannot recite, even thus rudely, laws of the intellect, without remembering that lofty and sequestered class of men who have… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Society always consists, in greatest part, of young and foolish persons. The old, who have seen through the hypocrisy of the courts… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Look out into the July night, and see the broad belt of silver flame which flashes up the half of heaven, fresh… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is very certain that the strong British race which has now overrun much of this continent, must also overrun [Texas], and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If I quake, what matters it what I quake at? Our proper vice takes form in one or another shape, according to… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Every man is not so much a workman in the world as he is a suggestion of that he should be. Men… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Old age brings along with its uglinesses the comfort that you will soon be out of it, - which ought to be… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Be true to your own act and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant to break the monotony of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Our age is very cheap and intelligible. Unroof any house, and you shall find it. The well-being consists in having a sufficiency… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
When life has been well spent, age is a loss of what it can well spare,--muscular strength, organic instincts, gross bulk, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
What is the foundation of that interest all men feel in Greek history, letters, art, and poetry, in all its periods, from… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of our science, and such is the mechanical determination of our age, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
No man can quite emancipate himself from his age and country, or produce a model in which the education, the religion, the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In old persons, when thus fully expressed, we often observe a fair, plump, perennial waxen complexion, which indicates that all the ferment… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Consider what you have in the smallest chosen library: a company of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We are sure that, though we know not how, necessity does comport with liberty, the individual with the world, my polarity with… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There are many faculties in man, each of which takes its turn of activity, and that faculty which is paramount in any… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other, and thus makes… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I have sometimes thought that, in order to be a good minister, it was necessary to leave the ministry. The profession is… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A third felicity of age is that it has found expression. The youth suffers not only from ungratified desires, but from powers… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is hard to go beyond your public. If they are satisfied with cheap performance, you will not easily arrive at better.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In the great books of India, an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
An English family consists of a few persons, who, from youth to age, are found revolving within a few feet of each… — 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