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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes - Page 93

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All sensible people are selfish, and nature is tugging at every contract to make the terms of it fair.

All sensible people are selfish, and nature is tugging at every contract to make the terms of it fair.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature, Selfish, People
'The Conduct of Life' (1860) 'Considerations by the way'

Enthusiasm is the height of man; it is the passing from the human to the divine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men, Enthusiasm, Height
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1954). “The Power of Emerson's Wisdom”

It is in the stomach of plants that development begins, and ends in the circles of the universe. 'Tis a long scale from the gorilla to the gentleman,--from the gorilla to Plato, Newton, Shakespeare,--to the sanctities of religion, the refinements of legislation, the summit of science, art, and poetry. The beginnings are slow and infirm, but it is an always accelerated march.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Art, Plato, Circles
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1905). “The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”

Nature, through all her kingdoms, insures herself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature, Kingdoms
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1856). “Essays”, p.27

To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life, Positive, Wisdom
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.207, Penguin

The astonishment of life is the absence of any appearances of reconciliation between the theory and the practice of life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Philosophy, Practice, Astonishment
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1872). “Representative men. English traits. Conduct of life”, p.95

Man carries the world in his head, the whole astronomy and chemistry suspended in a thought. Because the history of nature is charactered in his brain, therefore he is the prophet and discoverer of her secrets. Every known fact in natural science was divined by the presentiment of somebody, before it was actually verified.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature, Science, Men
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1491, Delphi Classics

Every individual man has a bias which he must obey, and...it is only as he feels and obeys this that he rightly develops and attains his legitimate power in the world. It is his magnetic needle, which points always in one direction to his proper path.... He is never happy nor strong until he finds it, keeps it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Strong, Men, One Direction

Our first mistake is the belief that the circumstance gives the joy which we give to the circumstance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happiness, Mistake, Giving
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Barbara L. Packer, Joseph Slater, Douglas Emory Wilson (2003). “The Conduct of Life”, p.166, Harvard University Press

A man is like a bit of Labrador spar, which has no luster as you turn it in your hand, until you come to a particular angle; then it shows deep and beautiful colors.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Beautiful, Character, Men
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1993). “Self-reliance, and Other Essays”, p.88, Courier Corporation

A little integrity is better than any career.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Integrity, Careers, Littles
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Susan Sutton Smith, Ralph H. Orth (1990). “The Topical Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.233, University of Missouri Press

Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other, and thus makes him necessary to society. ... Society can never prosper, but must always be bankrupt, until every man does that which he was created to do.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men, Age, Doe
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.1003, Library of America

Conformity is the ape of harmony.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Peace, Apes, Conformity
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1969). “Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume VII: 1838-1842”, p.492, Harvard University Press

If you don't ride in the rain, you don't ride.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Rain, Riding Your Bike, Motorcycle

An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men, Self Reliance, Shadow
Essays "Self-Reliance" (1841)

Nature is reckless of the individual. When she has points to carry, she carries them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature, Individual, Reckless
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt McLaughlin (2010). “The Laws of Nature: Excerpts from the Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.72, North Atlantic Books

Success in your work, the finding a better method, the better understanding that insures the better performing is hat and coat, is food and wine, is fire and horse and health and holiday. At least, I find that any success in my work has the effect on my spirits of all these.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Success, Horse, Wine
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2014). “The Heart of Emerson's Journals”, p.318, Courier Corporation

Nature is not slow to equip us in the prison-uniform of the party to which we adhere.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Party, Hero, Uniforms
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Self-Reliance and Other Essays”, p.23, Courier Corporation

When duty whispers low, Thou must, The youth replies, I can.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Military, Youth, Lows
"Voluntaries" no. 3 (1867)

Old & New put their stamp to everything in Nature. The snowflake that is now falling is marked by both. The present moment gives the motion & the color of the flake: Antiquity, its form & properties. All things wear a luster which is the gift of the present & a tarnish of time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature, Fall, Color

The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew… it passes into other habitations, for the soul is immortal.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Soul, Body, Reincarnation
"In the Beauty of the Lilies: A Love Story That Opens Doors to Spiritual Values". Book by Gerald O. Doyle (p. 56), 2002.

Great causes are never tried on their merits; but the cause is reduced to particulars to suit the size of the partizans, and the contention is ever hottest on minor matters.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Matter, Suits, Causes
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.550, Library of America

To help the young soul, to add energy, inspire hope, and blow the coals into a useful flame; to redeem defeat by new thought and firm action, this, though not easy, is the work of divine men.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hope, Blow, Men

Traveling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Travel, Journey, Tourism
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.278, Library of America

Always scorn appearances and you always may.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
May, Appearance, Scorn
Ralph Emerson (2014). “Ralph Waldo Emerson on Self-Reliance: Advice, Wit, and Wisdom from the Father of Transcendentalism”, p.14, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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