Every man beholds his human condition with a degree of melancholy. As a ship aground is battered by the waves, so man,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We resent all criticism which denies us anything that lies in our line of advance. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
...most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
For it is only the finite that has wrought and suffered; the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
All stealing is comparative. If you come to absolutes, pray who does not steal. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I believe that our own experience instructs us that the secret of Education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In actions of enthusiasm, this drawback appears: but in those lower activities, which have no higher aim than to make us more… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I believe that our own experience instructs us that the secret of Education lies in respecting the pupil. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There are geniuses in trade as well as in war, or the state, or letters; and the reason why this or that… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Look sharply after your own thoughts. They come unlooked for, like a new bird seen on your trees, and, if you turn… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
All goes to show that the soul in man is not an organ, but animates and exercises all the organs; is not… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The crystal sphere of thought is as concentrical as the geological structure of the globe. As our soils and rocks lie in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nothing shall warp me from the belief that every man is a lover of truth. There is no pure lie, no pure… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Beside all the small reasons we assign, there is a great reason for the existence of every extant fact; a reason which… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The whole secret of the teacher's force lies in the conviction that men are convertible. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A man is the whole encyclopedia of facts. The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn, and Egypt, Greece, Rome,… — 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
“There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or… — 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
What is man born for but to be a Reformer, a Remaker of what man has made? A renouncer of lies; a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“The world -- this shadow of the soul, or other me, lies wide around. Its attractions are the keys which unlock my… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Strange is this alien despotism of Sleep which takes two persons lying in each other's arms & separates them leagues, continents,asunder. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Go face the fire at sea, or the cholera in your friend's house, or the burglar in your own, or what danger… — 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 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