In analysing history do not be too profound, for often the causes are quite superficial. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Two sorts of writers possess genius: those who think, and those who cause others to think. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A poem, a sentence, causes us to see ourselves. I be, and I see my being, at the same time. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Fate, then, is a name for facts not yet passed under the fire of thought; for causes which are unpenetrated. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The cruelest foe is a masked benefactor. The wars which make history so dreary have served the cause of truth and virtue. — 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
Talent for talent's sake is a bauble and a show. Talent working with joy in the cause of universal truth lifts the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A man must know how to estimate a sour face. The sour face of the multitude, like thier sweet faces, have no… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If you believe in the soul, do not clutch at sensual sweetness before it is ripe on the slow tree of cause… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The consciousness in each man is a sliding scale, which identifies him now with the First Cause, and now with the flesh… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Honor and fortune exist for him who always recognizes the neighborhood of the great, always feels himself in the presence of high… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Put the argument into a concrete shape, into an image, some hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, which they can… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
You think that your silence on certain topics, perhaps in the face of injustice, or unkindness, or mean-spiritedness, causes others to reserve… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Self-trust is the first secret of success, the belief that if you are here the authorities of the universe put you here,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is a persuasion in the soul of man that he is here for cause, that he was put down in this… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The glory of the farmer is that, in the division of labors, it is his part to create. All trade rests at… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is not an arbitrary "decree of God," but in the nature of man, that a veil shuts down on the facts… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
And what is Genius but finer love, a love impersonal, a love of the flower and perfection of things, and a desire… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances: it was somebody's name, or he happened to be there at right time, or… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We sometimes observe that spoiled children contract a habit of annoying quite wantonly those who have charge of them, and seem tomeasure… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It must be that when God speaketh, he should communicate, not one thing, but all things; should fill the world with his… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect. A man does not see, that, as he eats, so he thinks: as he deals,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
...as there is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens, so is there no bar or wall in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call common sense; a man of a strong affinity… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Great causes are never tried on their merits; but the cause is reduced to particulars to suit the size of the partizans,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Life has no memory. That which proceeds in succession might be remembered, but that which is coexistent, or ejaculated from a deeper… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
So use all that is called Fortune. Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and lose all, as her wheel rolls.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
For, truly speaking, whoever provokes me to a good act or thought has given me a pledge of his fidelity to virtue,--he… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We first share the life by which things exist, and afterwards see them as appearances in nature, and forget that we have… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But every jet of chaos which threatens to exterminate us is convertible by intellect into wholesome force. Fate is unpenetrated causes. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
When a man becomes cultivated, he develops a new respect for who he is. This causes him to be ashamed of his… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
By degrees we may come to know the primitive sense of the permanent objects of nature, so that the world shall be… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Beauty is the mark God sets on virtue. Every natural action is graceful; every heroic act is also decent, and causes the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organ of its activity. When we… — 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
