The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide. . . . Every influx of atheism, of skepticism, is… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Why should we fear to be crushed by savage elements, we who are made up of the same elements? — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Our religion vulgarly stands on numbers of believers. Whenever the appeal is made--no matter how indirectly--to numbers, proclamation is then and there… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In all conversation between two persons, tacit reference is made, as to a third party, to a common nature. That third party… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
When I was praised I lost my time, for instantly I turned around to look at the work I had thought slightly… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The universe is represented in every one of it's particles. Everything is made of one hidden stuff. The world globes itself in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The light by which we see in this world comes out from the soul of the observer. Wherever any noble sentiment dwelt,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Would we codify the laws that should reign in households, and whose daily transgression annoys and mortifies us, and degrades our household… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Where dwells the religion? Tell me first where dwells electricity, or motion, or thought or gesture. They do not dwell or stay… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Whenever a mind is simple and receives an old wisdom, old things pass away,--means, teachers, texts, temples fall; it lives now, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
What has been done in the world - the works of genius - cost nothing. There is no painful effort, but it… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
By fate, not option, frugal Nature gave One scent to hyson and to wall-flower, One sound to pine-groves and to water-falls, One… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The whole of what we know is a system of compensation. Every defect in one manner is made up in another. Every… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In sculpture did ever anybody call the Apollo a fancy piece? Or say of the Laocoon how it might be made different?… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The axioms of physics translate the laws of ethics. Thus, "the whole is greater than its part;" "reaction is equal to action;"… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A garden has this advantage, that it makes it indifferent where you live. A well-laid garden makes the face of the country… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Defect in manners is usually the defect of fine perceptions. Men are too coarsely made for the delicacy of beautiful carriage and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
For all our penny-wisdom, for all our soul-destroying slavery to habit, it is not to be doubted that all men have sublime… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Steam was till the other day the devil which we dreaded. Every pot made by any human potter or brazier had a… — 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
