Authors:

Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes - Page 133

All Quotes Acceptance Accomplishment Achievement Acting Addiction Adventure Adversity Affection Age Aids Alcohol Alienation Ambition Anarchy Anger Anxiety Apology Appearance Appreciation Architecture Army Art Astronomy Atheism Atheist Atmosphere Attitude Authority Autumn Awakening Balance Beauty Beer Being Different Being Single Being Yourself Belief Birth Blame Books And Reading Boredom Borrowing Business Caring Challenges Change Chaos Character Charity Childhood Children Choices Christ Christianity Church Civility Coffee College Commitment Common Sense Communication Community Compassion Composition Compromise Concentration Confession Confidence Conflict Conformity Confusion Conscience Consciousness Conspiracy Constitution Contentment Cooking Country Courage Courtship Creation Creative Writing Creativity Crime Criticism Culture Curiosity Cynicism Dancing Darkness Death Defeat Democracy Design Desire Destiny Determination Devil Difficulty Dignity Discipline Diversity Divorce Doom Doubt Drinking Duty Dying Earth Eating Economy Education Effort Elegance Encouragement Encouraging Energy Enthusiasm Environment Envy Epic Equality Eternity Ethics Evidence Evil Evolution Excellence Exercise Experience Failing Failure Faith Fame Family Fashion Fate Fear Feelings Fighting Fitness Flight Focus Food Forgiveness Freedom Friends Friendship Frugality Funeral Funny Future Gardening Gems Generosity Genius Getting Older Giving Giving Up Glory God Gold Good Morning Goodness Gossip Grace Graduation Gratitude Greatness Greek Grief Grieving Growing Up Growth Happiness Hard Times Harmony Hate Hatred Healing Health Heart Heaven Helping Others Heroism History Holiday Home Honesty Honor Hope House Humanity Humility Hunting Hurt Husband Hypocrisy Idealism Identity Ignorance Imagination Imitation Immortality Independence Individualism Individuality Injustice Innovation Insanity Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Integrity Intelligence Intuition Jesus Jewelry Journey Joy Judgement Judging Judgment Justice Karma Kindness Knowledge Labor Language Latin Laughter Law Of Attraction Laziness Leadership Learning Leaving Liberty Life Life And Love Listening Literature Live Life Logic Loneliness Losing Loss Love Love Life Loyalty Luck Lying Magic Mankind Manners Marriage Mask Mediocrity Memories Mental Health Military Mindfulness Mom Money Moon Morality Morning Motherhood Motivation Motivational Mountain Muse Music Mythology Nationalism Nature New Beginnings Obedience Office Old Age Opportunity Optimism Originality Overcoming Pain Painting Passion Past Patience Peace Perception Perfection Persecution Perseverance Personality Perspective Philanthropy Philosophy Photography Plato Pleasure Poetry Police Politics Positive Positive Thinking Positivity Poverty Power Praise Prayer Preaching Prejudice Preparation Pride Progress Property Prophet Prosperity Prudence Public Speaking Purity Purpose Quality Rain Reading Reading Books Reality Recovery Redemption Reflection Regret Reincarnation Rejection Religion Reputation Respect Responsibility Revelations Revolution Rhetoric Risk Romance Romantic Love Running Sacrifice Sadness Safety Sailing Salvation Sanity School Science Self Confidence Self Esteem Self Reliance Self Worth Selfishness Serenity Shame Silence Simplicity Sin Sincerity Skepticism Skins Slavery Sleep Sloth Smoking Society Solitude Sorrow Soul Spirituality Sports Spring Stay Strong Strength Struggle Students Study Stupidity Style Success Suffering Summer Sunday Sunshine Sympathy Talent Taxes Tea Teaching Teamwork Technology Temptation Thankful Thanksgiving Theology Time Time Management Today Trade Tradition Tragedy Transcendentalism Travel Trust Truth Twilight Understanding Unity Universe Values Victory Violence Virtue Vision Vocation Volunteer Waiting Walking Wall War Water Weakness Wealth Weed Wilderness Wine Winning Winter Wisdom Wit Work Worry Worship Writing Yoga Youth
Savages cling to a local god of one tribe or town. The broad ethics of Jesus were quickly narrowed to village theologies, which preach an election or favoritism.

Savages cling to a local god of one tribe or town. The broad ethics of Jesus were quickly narrowed to village theologies, which preach an election or favoritism.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Jesus, Savages, Village
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2008). “The Spiritual Emerson: Essential Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.78, Penguin

A few years ago, the liberal churches complained that the Calvinistic church denied to them the name of Christian. I think the complaint was confession; a religious church would not complain.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Christian, Religious, Thinking
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2009). “The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.416, Modern Library

The reverence for the Scriptures is an element of civilization, for thus has the history of the world been preserved, and is preserved.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bible, Civilization, History
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1866). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Comprising His Essays, Lectures, Poems, and Orations”, p.97

Do not shut up the young people against their will in a pew, and force the children to ask them questions for an hour against their will.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Children, School, Sunday
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Nature and Other Essays”, p.83, Courier Corporation

The Church seems to totter to its fall, almost all life extinct. On this occasion, any complaisance would be criminal which told you, whose hope and commission it is to preach the faith of Christ, that the faith of Christ is preached.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fall, Church, Criminals
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.82, Penguin

To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be madeby the reception of beautiful sentiments.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Beautiful, Men, Miracle
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.81, Penguin

Freedom is the essence of this faith. It has for its object simply to make men good and wise. Its institutions then should be as flexible as the wants of men. That form out of which the life and suitableness have departed should be as worthless in its eyes as the dead leaves that are falling around us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wise, Fall, Eye
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.2907, Delphi Classics

We ought to be cautious in taking even the best ascertained opinions and practices of the primitive Church for our own. If it could be satisfactorily shown that they esteemed it authorized and transmitted forever, that does not settle the question for us. We know how inveterately they were attached to their Jewish prejudices, and how often even the influence of Christ failed to enlarge their views. On every other subject succeeding times have learned to form a judgement more in accordance with the spirit of Christianity than was the practice of the early ages.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Views, Practice, Forever
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2009). “The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.105, Modern Library

American mind a wilderness of opportunities.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Opportunity, Mind, United States

In this our talking America, we are ruined by our good nature and listening on all sides. This compliance takes away the power ofbeing greatly useful.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Talking, America, Listening
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.215, Penguin

Great country, diminutive minds. America is formless, has no terrible and no beautiful condensation.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Beautiful, Country, America

The rage for road building is beneficent for America, where vast distance is so main a consideration in our domestic politics andtrade, inasmuch as the great political promise of the invention is to hold the Union staunch, whose days already seem numbered by the mere inconvenience of transporting representatives, judges and officers across such tedious distances of land and water.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Distance, Land, America

From Washington, proverbially "the city of distances," through all its cities, states, and territories, it is a country of beginnings, of projects, of designs, and expectations.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Country, Distance, Cities

But to most of us society shows not its face and eye, but its side and back. To stand in true relations with men in a false age isworth a fit of insanity, is it not?

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Honesty, Eye, Men
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1851). “Essays, lectures and orations”, p.94

I pray my companion, if he wishes for bread, to ask me for bread, and if he wishes for sassafras or arsenic, to ask me for them, and not to hold out his plate, as if I knew already.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wish, Bread, Arsenic
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Emerson's Essays: Top Essays”, p.88, 谷月社

Strange is this alien despotism of Sleep which takes two persons lying in each other's arms & separates them leagues, continents,asunder.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lying, Sleep, Two
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Joel Porte (1982). “Emerson in His Journals”, p.145, Harvard University Press

Those who have ruled human destinies, like planets, for thousands of years, were not handsome men.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leadership, Destiny, Men
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1872). “Representative men. English traits. Conduct of life”, p.477

Fashion understands itself; good-breeding and personal superiority of whatever country readily fraternize with those of every other. The chiefs of savage tribes have distinguished themselves in London and Paris, by the purity of their tournure.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leadership, Country, Fashion
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Essays”, p.44, Xist Publishing

If the aristocrat is only valid in fashionable circles, and not with truckmen, he will never be a leader in fashion; and if the man of the people cannot speak on equal terms with the gentleman, so that the gentleman shall perceive that he is already really of his own order, he is not to be feared.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leadership, Fashion, Men
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1808). “Select Essays and Poems”, p.69

Where is he who seeing a thousand men useless and unhappy, and making the whole region forlorn by their inaction, and conscious himself of possessing the faculty they want, does not hear his call to go and be their king?

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leadership, Kings, Men
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1228, Delphi Classics

Sport is the bloom and glow of a perfect health. The great will not condescend to take anything seriously; all must be as gay as the song of a canary, though it were the building of cities, or the eradication of old and foolish churches and nations, which have cumbered the earth long thousands of years.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sports, Song, Gay
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Emerson's Essays: Top Essays”, p.77, 谷月社

The merit of those who fill a space in the world's history, who are borne forward, as it were, by the weight of thousands whom they lead, shed a perfume less sweet than do the sacrifices of private virtue.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sweet, Sacrifice, Space
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1921). “Representative men. Miscellanies”

In the country, without any interference from the law, the agricultural life favors the permanence of families.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Country, Law, Favors
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.2909, Delphi Classics

Why should we assume the faults of our friend, or wife, or father, or child, because they sit around our hearth, or are said to have the same blood?

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Friends, Children, Father
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Emerson's Essays: Top Essays”, p.52, 谷月社

Perhaps it is the lowest of the qualities of an orator, but it is, on so many occasions, of chief importance,--a certain robust and radiant physical health; or--shall I say?--great volumes of animal heat.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Health, Animal, Quality
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.2421, Delphi Classics

You May Also Like: