It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, 'always do what you are afraid to do.' — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The adventitious beauty of poetry may be felt in the greater delight with a verse given in a happy quotation than in… — 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
Meek young men grow up in colleges and believe it is their duty to accept the views which books have given, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Exaggeration is in the course of things. Nature sends no creature, no man into the world, without adding a small excess of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
No reason can be asked or given why the soul seeks beauty. Beauty, in its largest and profoundest sense, is one expression… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The solar system has no anxiety about its reputation, and the credit of truth and honesty is as safe; nor have I… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If I have renounced the search of truth, if I have come into the port of some pretending dogmatism, some new church,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But, if we explore the literature of Heroism, we shall quickly come to Plutarch, who is its Doctor and historian. To him… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide;… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If you have something to say, you will be given the power to say it. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Enlarge not thy destiny, said the oracle: endeavor not to do more than is given thee in charge. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It seems as if the day was not wholly profane in which we have given heed to some natural object. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men have come to speak of the revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. The injury… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The judge weighs the arguments and puts a brave face on the matter, and since there must be a decision, decides as… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Examples are cited by soldiers, of men who have seen the cannon pointed, and the fire given to it, and who have… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Every fact is related on one side to sensation, and, on the other, to morals. The game of thought is, on the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A new person is to me a great event, and hinders me from sleep. I have often had fine fancies about persons… — 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
It now appears that the negro race is, more than any other, susceptible of rapid civilization. The emancipation is observed, in the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. It undergoes continual changes: it is… — 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
The reason why any one refuses his assent to your opinion, or his aid to your benevolent design, is in you: he… — 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
