All reform aims, in some one particular, to let the soul have its way through us; in other words, to engage us… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Power ceases in the instant of repose; it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is a principle which is the basis of things, which all speech aims to say, and all action to evolve, a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In our large cities, the population is godless, materialized,--no bond, no fellow-feeling, no enthusiasm. These are not men, but hungers, thirsts, fevers,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A man is not to aim at innocence, any more than he is to aim at hair, but he is to keep… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“Life is too short to waste The critic bite or cynic bark, Quarrel, or reprimand; 'Twill soon be dark; Up! mind thine… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is in rugged crises, in unbearable endurance, and in aims which put sympathy out of the question, that the angel is… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In actions of enthusiasm, this drawback appears: but in those lower activities, which have no higher aim than to make us more… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We teach boys to be such men as we are. We do not teach them to aspire to be all they can.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We aim above the mark, to hit the mark. Every act hath some falsehood of exaggeration in it. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
One more royal trait properly belongs to the poet. I mean his cheerfulness, without which no man can be a poet,--for beauty… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If two or three persons should come with a high spiritual aim and with great powers, the world would fall into their… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men do not believe in the power of education. We do not think we can speak to divine sentiments in man, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Man is priest, and scholar, and statesman, and producer, and soldier. In the divided or social state these functions are parcelled out… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If you would learn to write, it is in the street you must learn it. Both for the vehicle and for the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Foolish, whenever you take the meanness and formality of that thing you do, instead of converting it into the obedient spiracle ofyour… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Every mind has a new compass, a new direction of its own, differencing its genius and aim from every other mind.--We call… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The day is always his, who works in it with serenity and great aims. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A poet is no rattlebrain, saying what comes uppermost, and, because he says every thing, saying, at last, something good; but a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Life is too short to waste . . . 'Twill soon be dark; Up! mind thine own aim, and God speed the mark! — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men achieve a certain greatness unawares when working to another aim. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Harmony of aim, not identity of conclusion, is the secret of sympathetic life. — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
No man can be criticised but by a greater than he. Do not, then, read the reviews. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
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 Image
