--- title: "8 Gates Quotes By Ralph Waldo Emerson" description: "8 Gates quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Plus more from Ralph Waldo Emerson and more Gates sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_these-arts-open-great-gates-of-a-future_1038816.png" --- > [These arts open great gates of a future, promising to make the world plastic and to lift human life out of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/these-arts-open-great-gates-of-a-future-promising-to-make-the-world/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_these-arts-open-great-gates-of-a-future_1038816.png) > [The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-world-is-all-gates-all-opportunities-strings-of-tension-waiting/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/244/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_gates_the-world-is-all-gates-all-opportunities_1413916.png) > [If the colleges were better, if they ... had the power of imparting valuable thought, creative principles, truths which become powers, thoughts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-the-colleges-were-better-if-they-had-the-power-of-imparting/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/430/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_causes_if-the-colleges-were-better-if-they-had_1864726.png) > [At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/at-the-gates-of-the-forest-the-surprised-man-of-the-world-is-forced/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/863/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_circumstances_at-the-gates-of-the-forest-the-surprised_2044674.jpg) > [Thought is the seed of action; but action is as much its second form as thought is its first. It rises in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/thought-is-the-seed-of-action-but-action-is-as-much-its-second-form/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_action_thought-is-the-seed-of-action-but-action_2358776.png) > [At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/at-the-gates-of-the-forest-the-surprised-man-of-the-world-is-forced-2/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/25c/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_cities_at-the-gates-of-the-forest-the-surprised_2965505.png) > [Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of our science, and such is the mechanical determination of our age, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/men-love-to-wonder-and-that-is-the-seed-of-our-science-and-such-is/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d0/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_age_men-love-to-wonder-and-that-is-the-seed_2971512.png) > [The gates of thought, - how slow and late they discover themselves! Yet when they appear, we see that they were always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-gates-of-thought-how-slow-and-late-they-discover-themselves-yet/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c2/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_funny_the-gates-of-thought-how-slow-and-late-t_3078542.png) ## Other authors on Gates ## 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/gates/ralph-waldo-emerson/#itemlist", "name": "8 Gates Quotes By Ralph Waldo Emerson", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "These arts open great gates of a future, promising to make the world plastic and to lift human life out of its beggary to a god- like ease and power.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ralph Waldo Emerson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/these-arts-open-great-gates-of-a-future-promising-to-make-the-world/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_these-arts-open-great-gates-of-a-future_1038816.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_these-arts-open-great-gates-of-a-future_1038816.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_these-arts-open-great-gates-of-a-future_1038816.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“These arts open great gates of a future, promising to make the world plastic and to lift human life out of…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ralph Waldo Emerson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-world-is-all-gates-all-opportunities-strings-of-tension-waiting/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/244/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_gates_the-world-is-all-gates-all-opportunities_1413916.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/244/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_gates_the-world-is-all-gates-all-opportunities_1413916.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/244/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_gates_the-world-is-all-gates-all-opportunities_1413916.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If the colleges were better, if they ... had the power of imparting valuable thought, creative principles, truths which become powers, thoughts which become talents, - if they could cause that a mind not profound should become profound, - we should all rush to their gates: instead of contriving inducements to draw students, you would need to set police at the gates to keep order in the in-rushing multitude.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ralph Waldo Emerson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-the-colleges-were-better-if-they-had-the-power-of-imparting/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/430/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_causes_if-the-colleges-were-better-if-they-had_1864726.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/430/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_causes_if-the-colleges-were-better-if-they-had_1864726.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/430/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_causes_if-the-colleges-were-better-if-they-had_1864726.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If the colleges were better, if they ... had the power of imparting valuable thought, creative principles…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish. 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