The American who has been confined, in his own country, to the sight of buildings designed after foreign models, is surprised on entering York Minster or St. Peter's at Rome, by the feeling that these structures are imitations also,--faint copies of an invisible archetype.
Ralph Waldo EmersonWhat I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe things taught in schools & colleges are not an education but the means of education.
Ralph Waldo EmersonI do not hesitate to read. all good books in translations. What is really best in any book is translatable-any real insight or broad human sentiment.
Ralph Waldo EmersonA nation, like a tree, does not thrive well till it is engraffed with a foreign stock.
Ralph Waldo EmersonLife is in short cycles or periods; we are quickly tired, but we have rapid rallies. A man is spent by his work, starved, prostrate; he will not lift his hand to save his life; he can never think more. He sinks into deep sleep and wakes with renewed youth, with hope, courage, fertile in resources, and keen for daring adventure.
Ralph Waldo Emerson