Every rational creature has all nature for his dowry and estate. It is his, if he will. He may divest himself of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If a man lose his balance, and immerse himself in any trades or pleasures for their own sake, he may be a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Eloquence must be grounded on the plainest narrative. Afterwards, it may warm itself until it exhales symbols of every kind and color,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Nature may be as selfishly studied as trade. Astronomy to the selfish becomes astrology; psychology, mesmerism (with intent to show where aour… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
When he has seen, that it is not his, nor any man's, but it is the soul which made the world, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Thought is the seed of action; but action is as much its second form as thought is its first. It rises in… — 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
But the mark of American merit in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence, seems to be a certain grace… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The book, the college, the school of art, the institution of any kind, stop with some past utterance of genius. . .… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
But there is no end to the praise of books, to the value of the library. Who shall estimate their influence on… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
That which befits us, embosomed in beauty and wonder as we are, is cheerfulness, and courage, and the endeavor to realize our… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A man is a beggar who only lives to the useful, and, however he may serve as a pin or rivet in… — 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.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The key to the age may be this, or that, or the other, as the young orators describe; the key to all… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men are what their mothers made them. You may as well ask a loom which weaves huckabuck why it does not make… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Milton says, that the lyric poet may drink wine and live generously, but the epic poet, he who shall sing of the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The scholar may lose himself in schools, in words, and become a pedant; but when he comprehends his duties, he above all… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Daughter of heaven and earth, coy Spring, With sudden passion languishing, Teaching barren moors to smile, Painting pictures mile on mile, Holds… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Who is he that shall control me? Why may not I act and speak and write and think with entire freedom? What… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
How beautiful to have the church always open, so that every tired wayfaring man may come in and be soothed by all… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Pretension may sit still, but cannot act. Pretension never feigned an act of real greatness. Pretension never wrote an Iliad, nordrove back… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
You will think me very pedantic, gentlemen, but holiday though it may be, I have not the smallest interest in any holiday,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Everything that is popular, it has been said, deserves the attention of philosophers: and this is for the obvious reason, that although… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We may climb into the thin and cold realm of pure geometry and lifeless science, or sink into that of sensation. Between… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The thief steals from himself. The swindler swindles himself. For the real price is knowledge and virtue, whereof wealth and credit are… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The true thrift is always to spend on the higher plane; to invest and invest, with keener avarice, that he may spend… — 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 remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser who was wont to importune… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The best bribe which London offers to-day to the imagination, is, that, in such a vast variety of people and conditions, one… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
And truly it demands something god like in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I thought as I rode in the cold pleasant light of Sunday morning how silent & passive nature offers, every morn, her… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears… — 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
