Ralph Waldo Emerson
Philosopher
I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested--'But these impulses may be from below, not from above.' I replied, 'They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the devil's child, I will live them from the devil.
From Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Colleges hate geniuses, just as convents hate saints.
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.
From Self Reliance
Religion is the perception of that power which constructs the greatness of the centuries out of the paltriness of the hours.
There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes.
You become what you think about all day long.
When you were born you were crying and everyone else was smiling. Live your life so at the end, your're the one who is smiling and everyone else is crying.
Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.
The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.
Emerson's own best insight into fame is in his essay on Character. "The most dismaying aspect of fame from the point of view of its possessor is not just that fame is generally disproportionate to actual achievement, but that the fame that we first assume to be a reward for work well done becomes instead an impossible promise of about future work. Fame casts an anticipatory chill over current efforts because it awakens expectations that can never fully be met".
From Character
People do not deserve good writing, they are so pleased with bad.
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Life is a series of surprises and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.
Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.
The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.
The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It puts an affront upon nature.
From English Traits
Hitch your wagon to a star.
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
From The Complete Prose Works Of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.
Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
As long as all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain sublime assurance of success, but as soon as honied words of praise are spoken for me, I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies.
From Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820-1824
I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested--'But these impulses may be from below, not from above.' I replied, 'They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the devil's child, I will live them from the devil.
From Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Colleges hate geniuses, just as convents hate saints.
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.
From Self Reliance
Religion is the perception of that power which constructs the greatness of the centuries out of the paltriness of the hours.
There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes.
You become what you think about all day long.
When you were born you were crying and everyone else was smiling. Live your life so at the end, your're the one who is smiling and everyone else is crying.
Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.
The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.
Emerson's own best insight into fame is in his essay on Character. "The most dismaying aspect of fame from the point of view of its possessor is not just that fame is generally disproportionate to actual achievement, but that the fame that we first assume to be a reward for work well done becomes instead an impossible promise of about future work. Fame casts an anticipatory chill over current efforts because it awakens expectations that can never fully be met".
From Character
People do not deserve good writing, they are so pleased with bad.
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Life is a series of surprises and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.
Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.
The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.
The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It puts an affront upon nature.
From English Traits
Hitch your wagon to a star.
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
From The Complete Prose Works Of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.
Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
As long as all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain sublime assurance of success, but as soon as honied words of praise are spoken for me, I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies.
From Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820-1824
I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested--'But these impulses may be from below, not from above.' I replied, 'They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the devil's child, I will live them from the devil.
From Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Colleges hate geniuses, just as convents hate saints.
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.
From Self Reliance
Religion is the perception of that power which constructs the greatness of the centuries out of the paltriness of the hours.
There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes.
You become what you think about all day long.
When you were born you were crying and everyone else was smiling. Live your life so at the end, your're the one who is smiling and everyone else is crying.
Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.
The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.
Emerson's own best insight into fame is in his essay on Character. "The most dismaying aspect of fame from the point of view of its possessor is not just that fame is generally disproportionate to actual achievement, but that the fame that we first assume to be a reward for work well done becomes instead an impossible promise of about future work. Fame casts an anticipatory chill over current efforts because it awakens expectations that can never fully be met".
From Character
People do not deserve good writing, they are so pleased with bad.
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Life is a series of surprises and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.
Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.
The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.
The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It puts an affront upon nature.
From English Traits
Hitch your wagon to a star.
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
From The Complete Prose Works Of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.
Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
As long as all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain sublime assurance of success, but as soon as honied words of praise are spoken for me, I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies.
From Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820-1824