--- title: "4 Metaphysical Quotes By Ralph Waldo Emerson" description: "4 Metaphysical quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Plus more from Ralph Waldo Emerson and more Metaphysical sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c11/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_we-do-not-yet-trust-the-unknown-powers-o_328621.jpg" --- > [We do not yet trust the unknown powers of thought. Whence came all these tools, inventions, book laws, parties, kingdoms? Out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/we-do-not-yet-trust-the-unknown-powers-of-thought-whence-came-all/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c11/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_art_we-do-not-yet-trust-the-unknown-powers-o_328621.jpg) > [There are dull and bright, sacred and profane, coarse and fine egotists. It is a disease that, like influenza, falls on all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/there-are-dull-and-bright-sacred-and-profane-coarse-and-fine-egotists/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63a/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_coarse_there-are-dull-and-bright-sacred-and-pro_1522856.jpg) > [In strict science, all persons underlie the same condition of an infinite remoteness. Shall we fear to cool our love by mining…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-strict-science-all-persons-underlie-the-same-condition-of-an/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94a/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_alienation_in-strict-science-all-persons-underlie-t_2008242.png) > [Man is physical as well as metaphysical, a thing of shreds and patches, borrowed unequally from good and bad ancestors, and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/man-is-physical-as-well-as-metaphysical-a-thing-of-shreds-and-patches/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8a/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_ancestor_man-is-physical-as-well-as-metaphysical_2204970.png) ## Other authors on Metaphysical - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-stephen-richards-446.jpg) Stephen Richards 31 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/stephen-richards/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-ross-caligiuri-31263.jpg) Ross Caligiuri 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/ross-caligiuri/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-r-buckminster-fuller-76573.jpg) R. Buckminster Fuller 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/r-buckminster-fuller/) - [Mina Faraway 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/mina-faraway/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-karl-popper-55250.jpg) Karl Popper 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/karl-popper/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-haruki-murakami-40784.jpg) Haruki Murakami 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/haruki-murakami/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-friedrich-nietzsche-36363.jpg) Friedrich Nietzsche 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/friedrich-nietzsche/) - [Doug Dillon 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/doug-dillon/) - [Thomas Vazhakunnathu 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/thomas-vazhakunnathu/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-ludwig-wittgenstein-61873.jpg) Ludwig Wittgenstein 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/ludwig-wittgenstein/) - [Elliott Sober 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/elliott-sober/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-ayn-rand-15943.jpg) Ayn Rand 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/ayn-rand/) ## More by Ralph Waldo Emerson > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-speak-but-he-judges-himself-with-his-will-or-against-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/consideration-is-the-soil-in-which-wisdom-may-be-expected-to-grow-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/there-is-then-creative-reading-as-well-as-creative-writing-when-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The order of things consents to virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-order-of-things-consents-to-virtue/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Life only avails, not the having lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/life-only-avails-not-the-having-lived/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-child-reminds-us-that-playtime-is-an-essential-part-of-our-daily/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [No man can be criticised but by a greater than he. Do not, then, read the reviews.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/no-man-can-be-criticised-but-by-a-greater-than-he-do-not-then-read/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I am; therefore, I had nothing better to do than to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-am-therefore-i-had-nothing-better-to-do-than-to-think/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-a-library-we-are-surrounded-by-many-hundreds-of-dear-friends-but/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-compensations-of-calamity-are-made-apparent-to-the-understanding/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/ralph-waldo-emerson/#itemlist", "name": "4 Metaphysical Quotes By Ralph Waldo Emerson", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We do not yet trust the unknown powers of thought. Whence came all these tools, inventions, book laws, parties, kingdoms? Out of the invisible world, through a few brains. The arts and institutions of men are created out of thought. 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