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
For this present, hard Is the fortune of the bard, Born out of time; All his accomplishment, From Nature's utmost treasure spent,… — 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
“Poet To mask the fiery thought, in simple words succeeds. For still the craft of genius is, To mask a king in… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
The piety of the Hebrew prophets purges their grossness. The circumcision is an example of the power of poetry to raise the… — 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
“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
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
Rude poets of the tavern hearth, squandering your unquoted mirth, which keeps the ground, and never soars, while jake retorts, and reuben… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Speak as you think, be what you are, pay your debts of all kinds. I prefer to be owned as sound and… — 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 world still wants its poet-priest, a reconciler, who shall not trifle with Shakspeare the player, nor shall grope in graves with… — 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
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
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
All poets have signalized their consciousness of rare moments when they were superior to themselves, -when a light, a freedom, a power… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
There is some reason to believe that when a man does not write his poetry it escapes by other vents through him,… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
“Always the seer is a sayer. Somehow his dream is told; somehow he publishes it with solemn joy: sometimes with pencil on… — 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
A poet is no rattlebrain, saying what comes uppermost, and, because he says every thing, saying, at last, something good; but a… — 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
“It is not metres, but a metre-making argument that makes a poem,—a thought so passionate and alive that like the spirit of… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Doubt not, O poet, but persist. Say 'It is in me, and shall out.' Stand there, balked and dumb, stuttering and stammering,… — 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
Every really able man, in whatever direction he works - a man of large affairs, an inventor, a statesman, an orator, a… — Ralph Waldo Emerson Copy Share Image
Of Nature itself upon the soul; the sunrise, the haze of autumn, the winter starlight seem interlocutors; the prevailing sense is that… — 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
