“The poet is the sayer, the namer, and represents beauty. He is a sovereign, and stands on the centre. For the world… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
For it is not metres, but a metre-making argument that makes a poem, - a thought so passionate and alive that like… — 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
“Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is… — 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
Poetry teaches the enormous force of a few words, and, in proportion to the inspiration, checks loquacity. — 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 secret of poetry is never explained,— is always new. We have not got farther than mere wonder at the delicacy of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Shakespeare carries us to such a lofty strain of intelligent activity, as to suggest a wealth which beggars his own; and we… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“Nature enhances her beauty, to the eye of loving men, from their belief that the poet is beholding her shows at the… — 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
Not always can flowers, pearls, poetry, protestations, nor even home in another heart, content the awful soul that dwells in clay. — 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
“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 true poem is the poet's mind; the true ship is the ship-builder. In the man, could we lay him open, we… — 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
I cannot marry the facts of William Shakespeare to his verse: Other men had led lives in some sort of keeping with… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Do not fear to put novels into the hands of young people as an occasional holiday experiment, but above all, good poetry… — 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
