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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes - Page 141

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
Our debt to tradition through reading and conversation is so massive, our protest so rare and insignificant-and this commonly on the ground of other reading and hearing-that in large sense, one would say there is no

Our debt to tradition through reading and conversation is so massive, our protest so rare and insignificant-and this commonly on the ground of other reading and hearing-that in large sense, one would say there is no pure originality. All minds quote. Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. It is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Reading, Two, Mind
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1876). “Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson ...”, p.144

Our country, customs, laws, our ambitions, and our notions of fit and fair-all these we never made; we found them ready-made; we but quote from them. What would remain to me if this art of appropriation were derogatory to genius? Every one of my writings has been furnished to me by a thousand different persons, a thousand things; wise and foolish have brought me, without suspecting it, the offering of their thoughts, faculties, and experience. My work is an aggregation of beings taken from the whole of nature. It bears the name of Goethe.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wise, Country, Art

What you set your heart upon, surely shall be yours.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Heart

No reason can be asked or given why the soul seeks beauty. Beauty, in its largest and profoundest sense, is one expression for the universe. God is the all-fair. Truth, and goodness, and beauty, are but different faces of the same All.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Different Faces, Expression, Soul
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Nature and Other Essays”, p.9, Courier Corporation

Will is the measure of power. To a great genius there must be a great will. If the thought is not a lamp to the will, does not proceed to an act, the wise are imbecile. He alone is strong and happy who has a will. The rest are herds. He uses; they are used. He is of the Maker; they are of the Made. Will is always miraculous, being the presence of God to men. When it appears in a man he is a hero, and all metaphysics are at fault.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wise, Strong, Hero
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.3094, Delphi Classics

It really is considered one of the blessings of previous mates which you could manage being silly with them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Silly, Blessing, Mates

Our prejudices are our robbers, they rob us valuable things in life. People only see what they are prepared to see.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Things In Life, People, Prejudice

We are as much strangers in nature, as we are aliens from God. We do not understand the notes of birds. The fox and the deer run away from us; the bear and tiger rend us. We do not know the uses of more than a few plants, as corn and the apple, the potato and the vine. Is not the landscape, every glimpse of which hath a grandeur, a face of him?

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Running, Apples, Bird
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Ernest Spiller, Alfred Riggs Ferguson, Joseph Slater, Jean Ferguson Carr (1971). “The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature, addresses, and lectures”, p.39, Harvard University Press

A great teacher makes hard things easy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Teacher, Easy, Hard

First be a good animal.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Animal, Firsts
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.515, Library of America

Every man is the inlet and may become the outlet of all there is in God.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men, May, Outlets

We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken. The whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether. How many persons we meet in houses, whom we scarcely speak to, whom yet we honor and who honor us! How many we see in the street, or sit with in church, whom though silently, we warmly rejoice to be with! Read the language of these wandering eye-beams. The heart knoweth.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Kindness, Heart, Eye
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.341, Library of America

The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from a sufficient distance and it straightens itself to the average tendency.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Distance, Average, Lines
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.266, Library of America

That which we are, we are all the while teaching, not voluntarily, but involuntarily.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Teaching

The case wouldn't be overweight if you didn't have so many shoes. How many do you really need? This pair, for example, I swear you never even wore them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shoes, Example, Needs

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of our science, and such is the mechanical determination of our age, and so recent are our best contrivances, that use has not dulled our joy and pride in them. These arts open great gates of a future, promising to make the world plastic and to lift human life out of its beggary to a godlike ease and power.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Art, Determination, Pride
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1875). “Society and Solitude: Twelve Chapters”, p.142

I confess myself utterly at a loss in suggesting particular reforms in our ways of teaching. No discretion that can be lodged with a school-committee, with the overseers or visitors of an academy, of a college, can at all avail to reach these difficulties and perplexities, but they solve themselves when we leave institutions and address individuals.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Teaching, School, Loss
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.2750, Delphi Classics

The glance is natural magic. The mysterious communication established across a house between two entire strangers, moves all the springs of wonder.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Spring, Moving, Communication
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1859). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: The conduct of life”, p.179

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. Football is four 15-minute quarters. Plus timeouts and commercials.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Football, Organized Life, Four

Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman - repose in energy. The Greek battle pieces are calm; the heroes, in whatever violent actions engaged, retain a serene aspect.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hero, Greek, Gentleman
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1866). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Comprising His Essays, Lectures, Poems, and Orations”, p.376

Find the journey's end in every step.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Journey, Steps, Ends
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1851). “Essays, lectures and orations”, p.192

It is better to be a thorn in the side of a friend than an echo.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Echoes, Sides

Your work should be in praise of what you love.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Praise, Should, What You Love

The wave of evil washes all our institutions alike.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Evil, Vengeance, Wave
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1524, Delphi Classics

Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Book, Men, House
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.221, Penguin

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