I may say it of our preposterous use of books,--He knew not what to do, and so he read. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Times of heroism are generally times of terror, but the day never shines in which this element may not work. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
That which we do not believe, we cannot adequately say; even though we may repeat the words ever so often. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is not a piece of science, but its flank may be turned tomorrow. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
When we have broken our god of tradition, and ceased from our god of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
One single idea may have greater weight than all the men, animals, and machines for a century. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
As much wisdom may be expended on a private economy as on an empire, and as much wisdom may be drawn from… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Our condition as men is risky and ticklish enough. One can not be sure of himself and his fortune an hour, but… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The Soul rules over matter. Matter may pass away like a mote in the sunbeam, may be absorbed into the immensity of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Love is like a hunter, who cares not for the game when once caught, which he may have pursued with the most… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
By degrees we may come to know the primitive sense of the permanent objects of nature, so that the world shall be… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Motion or change, and identity or rest, are the first and second secrets of nature: Motion and Rest. The whole code of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Pay no heed to the average photographer's remarks upon "flat" and "weak" negatives. Probably he is flat, weak, stale, and unprofitable; your… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
For splendor, there must somewhere be rigid economy. That the head of the house may go brave, the members must be plainly… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The simplicity of the universe is very different from the simplicity of a machine. The simplicity of nature is not that which… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
O, when I am safe in my sylvan home, I mock at the pride of Greece and Rome; And when I am… — 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
It is a mischievous notion that we are come late into nature; that the world was finished a long time ago. As… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The use of literature is to afford us a platform whence we may command a view of our present life, a purchase… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow. Do not go where the path may lead, go… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A friend, therefore, is a sort of paradox in nature. I who alone am, I who see nothing in nature whose existence… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Beside all the moral benefit which we may expect from the farmer's profession, when a man enters it considerately, this promised the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The law of nature is alternation for evermore. Each electrical state superinduces the opposite. The soul environs itself with friends, that it… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The measure of action is the sentiment from which it proceeds. The greatest action may easily be one of the most private… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A Frenchman may possibly be clean; an Englishman is conscientiously clean. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
He who has acquired the ability, may wait securely the occasion of making it felt and appreciated, and know that it will… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
You may regret calamities if you can thereby help the sufferer, but if you cannot, mind your own business. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Every man is the inlet and may become the outlet of all there is in God. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Two may talk and one may hear, but three cannot take part in a conversation of the most sincere and searching sort. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There can be no high civility without a deep morality, though it may not always call itself by that name. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Yet a man may love a paradox, without losing either his wit or his honesty. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Ever the words of the gods resound; But the porches of man's ear seldom in this low life's round are unsealed, that… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
For what are they all in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet? — 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
We are of different opinions at different hours, but we always may be said to be at heart on the side of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
...What torments of pain have you endured that haven't as yet arrived? and may never! — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Washington, where an insignificant individual may trespass on a nation's time. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil. — 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
