A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThere the great Planter plants Of fruitful worlds the grain, And with a million spells enchants The souls that walk in pain.
Ralph Waldo EmersonEurope has always owed to oriental genius its divine impulses. What these holy bards said, all sane men found agreeable and true.
Ralph Waldo EmersonWherever there is power, there is age. Don't be deceived by dimples and curls. I tell you that babe is a thousand years old.
Ralph Waldo EmersonObserve how every truth and every error, each a thought of someone's mind, clothes itself with societies, houses, cities, language, ceremonies, newspapers
Ralph Waldo EmersonSo shall we come to look at the world with new eyes. It shall answer the endless inquiry of the intellect, — What is truth? and of the affections, — What is good? by yielding itself passive to the educated Will. ... Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit.
Ralph Waldo Emerson