The lessons of science should be experimental also. The sight of a planet through a telescope is worth all the course on astronomy; the shock of the electric spark in the elbow outvalues all theories; the taste of the nitrous oxide, the firing of an artificial volcano, are better than volumes of chemistry.
Ralph Waldo EmersonAnd last of all, high over thought, in the world of morals, Fate appears as vindicator, levelling the high, lifting the low, requiring justice in man, and always striking soon or late when justice is not done. What is useful will last, what is hurtful will sink.
Ralph Waldo EmersonGo out of the house to see the moon, and't is mere tinsel; it will not please as when its light shines upon your necessary journey.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIs not, indeed, every man a student, and do not all things exist for the student's behoof?
Ralph Waldo EmersonEach age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding.
Ralph Waldo EmersonNature and books belong to the eyes that see them. It depends on the mood of the man, whether he shall see the sunset or the fine poem. There are always sunsets, and there is always genius; but only a few hours so serene that we can relish nature or criticism. The more or less depends on structure or temperament. Temperament is the iron wire on which the beads are strung. Of what use is fortune or talent to a cold and defective store?
Ralph Waldo Emerson