The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors, because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Two may talk and one may hear, but three cannot take part in a conversation of the most sincere and searching sort. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The best of life is conversation, and the greatest success is confidence, or perfect understanding between sincere people. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“We know more from nature than we can at will communicate. Its light flows into the mind evermore, and we forget its… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
All good conversation, manners, and action come from a spontaneity which forgets usages and makes the moment great. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is no one who does not exaggerate. In conversation, men are encumbered with personality, and talk too much. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The mark of the man of the world is absence of pretension. He does not make a speech; he takes a low… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Of course you will insist on modesty in the children, and respect to their teachers, but if the boy stops you in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is commonly said by farmers, that a good pear or apple costs no more time or pains to rear, than a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The glance is natural magic. The mysterious communication established across a house between two entire strangers, moves all the springs of wonder. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The art of conversation, or the qualification for a good companion, is a certain self-control, which now holds the subject, now lets… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Conversation is our account of ourselves...Conversation is the vent of character as well as thoughts...It is the laboratory of the student. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I appeal now to the convictions of the communicants, and ask such persons whether they have not been occasionally conscious of a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I learn immediately from any speaker how much he has already lived, through the poverty or the splendor of his speech. Life… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The secret of success in society is a certain heartiness and sympathy. A man who is not happy in company, cannot find… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Almost every man we meet requires some civility; requires to be humored; - he has some fame, some talent, some whim of… — 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
Therefore all just persons are satisfied with their own praise. They refuse to explain themselves, and are content that new actions should… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Don't hang a dismal picture on the wall, and do not daub with sables and glooms in your conversation. Don't be a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The moment our discourse rises above the ground-line of familiar facts, and is inflamed with passion or exalted thought, it clothes itself… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes, you might see her… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Man is the broken giant, and in all his weakness both his body and his mind are invigorated by habits of conversation… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Society is frivolous, and shreds its day into scraps, its conversation into ceremonies and escapes. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But a public oration is an escapade, a non-committal, an apology, a gag, and not a communication, not a speech, not a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The vocabulary of an omniscient man would embrace words and images excluded from polite conversation. What would be base, or even obscene,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The action of the soul is oftener in that which is felt and left unsaid than in that which is said in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In conversation the game is, to say something new with old words. And you shall observe a man of the people picking… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I feel the same truth how often in my trivial conversation with my neighbours, that somewhat higher in each of us overlooks… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The uses of travel are occasional, and short; but the best fruit it finds, when it finds it, is conversation; and this… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history; I mean "the… — 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 excited conversation we have glimpses of the universe, hints of power native to the soul, far-darting lights and shadows of an… — 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
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 Image
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 Image
