“All that we call sacred history attests that the birth of a poet is the principal event in chronology.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
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
The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly developed at the expense… — 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
It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Men grind and grind in the mill of a truism, and nothing comes out but what was put in. But the moment… — 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
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
Conservatism makes no poetry, breathes no prayer, has no invention; it is all memory. Reform has no gratitude, no prudence, no husbandry. — 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
Art is a jealous mistress, and if a man has a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a… — 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
A lady with whom I was riding in the forest said to me that the woods always seemed to her to wait,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The secret of poetry is never explained - is always new. We have not got farther than mere wonder at the delicacy… — 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 condition of true naming, on the poet’s part, is his resigning himself to the divine aura which breathes through forms, and… — 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
