To clothe the fiery thought In simple words succeeds, For still the craft of genius is To mask a king in weeds. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We are as much informed of a writer's genius by what he selects as by what he originates. We read the quotation… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
We are made aware that magnitude of material things is relative, and all objects shrink and expand to serve the passion of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
If you criticize a fine genius, the odds are that you are out of your reckoning, and, instead of the poet, are… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The sign and credentials of the poet are that he announces that which no man foretold — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Great is the art, Great be the manners, of the bard. He shall not his brain encumber With the coil of rhythm… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Good poetry could not have been otherwise written than it is. The first time you hear it, it sounds rather as if… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
It is the essence of poetry to spring, like the rainbow daughter of Wonder, from the invisible, to abolish the past, and… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The poet knows that he speaks adequately, then, only when he speaks somewhat wildly. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The people fancy they hate poetry, and they are all poets and mystics. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
One more royal trait properly belongs to the poet. I mean his cheerfulness, without which no man can be a poet,--for beauty… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The poet's habit of living should be set on a key so low that the common influences should delight him. — 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
Poets should be law-givers; that is, the boldest lyric inspiration should not chide and insult, but should announce and lead the civil… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The charming landscape which I saw this morning is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The only gift is a portion of thyself . . . the poet brings his poem; the shepherd his lamb. . . . — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
A poem is made up of thoughts, each of which filled the whole sky of the poet in its turn. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There are two classes of poets - the poets by education and practice, these we respect; and poets by nature, these we… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The poet needs a ground in popular tradition on which he may work, and which, again, may restrain his art within the… — 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 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
