Murder in the murderer is no such ruinous thought as poets and romancers will have it; it does not unsettle him, or… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The soul is not born; it does not die; it was not produced from anyone Unborn, eternal, it is not slain, though… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We must not inquire too curiously into the absolute value of literature. Enough that it amuses and exercises us. At least it… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Fashion, though in a strange way, represents all manly virtue. It is virtue gone to seed: it is a kind of posthumous… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Every mind must know the whole lesson for itself,-must go over the whole ground. What it does not see, what it does… — 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
Nature does not cocker us: we are children, not pets: she is not fond: everything is dealt to us without fear or… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men are born to write. The gardener saves every slip, and seed, and peach-stone: his vocation is to be a planter of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Science in England, in America, is jealous of theory, hates the name of love and moral purpose. There's revenge for this humanity.What… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
What a man does, that he has. What has he to do with hope or fear? In himself is his might. Let… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is commonly observed that a sudden wealth, like a prize drawn in a lottery or a large bequest to a poor… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
What we commonly call man, the eating, drinking, planting, counting man, does not, as we know him, represent himself, but misrepresents himself.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A mind does not receive truth as a chest receives jewels that are put into it, but as the stomach takes up… — 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
Man is made of the same atoms the world is, he shares the same impressions, predispositions, and destiny. When his mind is… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But only that soul can be my friend which I encounter on the line of my own march, that soul to which… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
How can he [today's writer] be honored, when he does not honor himself; when he loses himself in the crowd; when he… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men are what their mothers made them. You may as well ask a loom which weaves huckabuck why it does not make… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
He cumbers himself never about consequences, about interests; he gives an independent, genuine verdict. You must court him: he does not court… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The public values the invention more than the inventor does. The inventor knows there is much more and better where this came… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy something, which does not represent your life… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The height, the deity of man is to be self-sustained, to need no gift, no foreign force. Society is good when it… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nature will not let us fret and fume. She does not like our benevolence or our learning much better than she likes… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Will is the measure of power. To a great genius there must be a great will. If the thought is not a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But the mark of American merit in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence, seems to be a certain grace… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Astronomy is a cold, desert science, with all its pompous figures,-depends a little too much on the glass-grinder, too little on the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Slavery is no scholar, no improver; it does not love the whistle of the railroad; it does not love the newspaper, the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Sleep takes off the costume of circumstance, arms us with terrible freedom, so that every will rushes to deed. A skillful man… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I believe it is the conviction of the purest men, that the net amount of man and man does not much vary.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In my utter impotence to test the authenticity of the report of my senses, to know whether the impressions they make on… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
On the other side, the conservative party, composed of the most moderate, able, and cultivated part of the population, is timid, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nature is no sentimentalist, - does not cosset or pamper us. We must see that the world is rough and surly, and… — 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