Nations have lost their old omnipotence; the patriotic tiedoes not hold. Nations are getting obsolete, we go and live where we will. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The best nations are those most widely related; and navigation, as effecting a world-wide mixture, is the most potent advancer ofnations. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
What the tender and poetic youth dreams to-day, and conjures up with inarticulate speech, is to-morrow the vociferated result of public opinion,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Proverbs are the literature of reason, or the statements of absolute truth, without qualification. Like the sacred books of each nation, they… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
And what greater calamity can fall upon a nation than the loss of worship. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There are many faculties in man, each of which takes its turn of activity, and that faculty which is paramount in any… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We live in a very low state of the world, and pay unwilling tribute to government founded on force. There is not,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There are men who, by their sympathetic attractions, carry nations with them, and lead the activity of the human race. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We infer the spirit of the nation in great measure from the language, which is a sort of monument, to which each… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely. 'Tis pedantry to estimate nations… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There never was a strong character that was not made strong by discipline of the will; there never was a strong people… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
No nation has produced anything like his equal. There is no quality in the human mind, there is no class of topics,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A nation, like a tree, does not thrive well till it is engraffed with a foreign stock. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most. The power which the sea requires in the sailor makes a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
When a whole nation is roaring patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A man should not be a silkworm; nor a nation a tent of caterpillars. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the sanctuary of the intuitions. That which the droning world, chained to appearances,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Not gold but only men can makeA people great and strong;Men who for truth and honors sakeStand fast and suffer long. Brave… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is a genius of a nation, which is not to be found in the numerical citizens, but which characterizes the society. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The crime which bankrupts men and nations is that of turning aside from one's main purpose to serve a job here and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Chiefly the sea-shore has been the point of departure to knowledge, as to commerce. The most advanced nations are always those who… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If you have a nation of men who have risen to that height of moral cultivation that they will not declare war… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
I do not speak with any fondness but the language of coolest history, when I say that Boston commands attention as the… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Sport is the bloom and glow of a perfect health. The great will not condescend to take anything seriously; all must be… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The art of sculpture is long ago perished to any real effect... it is the game of a rude and youthful people,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Under the dominion of an idea, which possesses the minds of multitudes, as civil freedom, or the religious sentiment, the power ofpersons… — 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
We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds... A nation… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Our civility, England determines the style of, inasmuch as England is the strongest of the family of existing nations, and as we… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Oxford is a little aristocracy in itself, numerous and dignified enough to rank with other estates in the realm; and where fame… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Washington, where an insignificant individual may trespass on a nation's time. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If there be any man who thinks the ruin of a race of men a small matter, compared with the last decoration… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Genius is always sufficiently the enemy of genius by over influence. The literature of every nation bear me witness. The English dramatic… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being? There are men, who, by their sympathetic attractions, carry nations… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We must trust infinitely to the beneficent necessity which shines through all laws. Human nature expresses itself in them as characteristically as… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most. — 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