--- title: "8 Beholder Quotes By Ralph Waldo Emerson" description: "8 Beholder quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Plus more from Ralph Waldo Emerson and more Beholder sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b6/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_america_but-the-mark-of-american-merit-in-painti_362977.png" --- > [But the mark of American merit in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence, seems to be a certain grace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/but-the-mark-of-american-merit-in-painting-in-sculpture-in-poetry-in/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b6/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_america_but-the-mark-of-american-merit-in-painti_362977.png) > [You cannot hide any secret. If the artist succor his flagging spirits by opium or wine, his work will characterize itself as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/you-cannot-hide-any-secret-if-the-artist-succor-his-flagging-spirits/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/421/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_you-cannot-hide-any-secret-if-the-artist_380119.jpg) > [Personal beauty is then first charming and itself, when it dissatisfies us with any end; when it becomes a story without an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/personal-beauty-is-then-first-charming-and-itself-when-it/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b4/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_beauty_personal-beauty-is-then-first-charming-a_1098989.jpg) > [A healthy soul stands united with the Just and the True, as the magnet arranges itself with the pole, so that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-healthy-soul-stands-united-with-the-just-and-the-true-as-the-magnet/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/031/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_beholder_a-healthy-soul-stands-united-with-the-ju_1152344.png) > [Though we travel the world over to find beauty, we must carry it with us or we find it not . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/though-we-travel-the-world-over-to-find-beauty-we-must-carry-it-with/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a2/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_awe_though-we-travel-the-world-over-to-find_2019741.jpg) > [It is the delight of vulgar talent to dazzle and to bind the beholder. But true genius seeks to defend us from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/it-is-the-delight-of-vulgar-talent-to-dazzle-and-to-bind-the-beholder/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88e/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_add_it-is-the-delight-of-vulgar-talent-to-da_2195628.jpg) > [Art should exhilarate, and throw down the walls of circumstance on every side, awakening in the beholder the same sense of universal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/art-should-exhilarate-and-throw-down-the-walls-of-circumstance-on/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e4/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_art-should-exhilarate-and-throw-down-the_3173667.jpg) > [A beautiful woman is a picture which drives all beholders nobly mad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-beautiful-woman-is-a-picture-which-drives-all-beholders-nobly-mad/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_beautiful_a-beautiful-woman-is-a-picture-which-dri_3229719.png) ## More by Ralph Waldo Emerson > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-speak-but-he-judges-himself-with-his-will-or-against-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/consideration-is-the-soil-in-which-wisdom-may-be-expected-to-grow-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/there-is-then-creative-reading-as-well-as-creative-writing-when-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The order of things consents to virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-order-of-things-consents-to-virtue/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Life only avails, not the having lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/life-only-avails-not-the-having-lived/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-child-reminds-us-that-playtime-is-an-essential-part-of-our-daily/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [No man can be criticised but by a greater than he. Do not, then, read the reviews.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/no-man-can-be-criticised-but-by-a-greater-than-he-do-not-then-read/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I am; therefore, I had nothing better to do than to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-am-therefore-i-had-nothing-better-to-do-than-to-think/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-a-library-we-are-surrounded-by-many-hundreds-of-dear-friends-but/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-compensations-of-calamity-are-made-apparent-to-the-understanding/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beholder/ralph-waldo-emerson/#itemlist", "name": "8 Beholder Quotes By Ralph Waldo Emerson", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But the mark of American merit in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence, seems to be a certain grace withoutgrandeur, and itself not new but derivative; a vase of fair outline, but empty,--which whoso sees, may fill with what wit and character is in him, but which does not, like the charged cloud, overflow with terrible beauty, and emit lightnings on all beholders.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ralph Waldo Emerson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/but-the-mark-of-american-merit-in-painting-in-sculpture-in-poetry-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b6/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_america_but-the-mark-of-american-merit-in-painti_362977.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b6/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_america_but-the-mark-of-american-merit-in-painti_362977.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b6/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_america_but-the-mark-of-american-merit-in-painti_362977.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But the mark of American merit in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence, seems to be a…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You cannot hide any secret. 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