Let us not forget the genial miraculous force we have known to proceed from a book.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe solitary knows the essence of the thought, the scholar in society only its fair face.
Ralph Waldo EmersonSilence is a solvent that destroys personality, and gives us leave to be great and universal.
Ralph Waldo EmersonA vivid thought brings the power to paint it; and in proportion to the depth of its source is the force of its projection.
Ralph Waldo EmersonWhat we do not call education is more precious than that which we call so. We form no guess, at the time of receiving a thought, of its comparative value. And education often wastes its effort in attempts to thwart and balk this natural magnetism, which is sure to select what belongs to it.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIn England every man you meet is some man's son; in America, he may be some man's father.
Ralph Waldo EmersonEverything teaches transition, transference, metamorphosis: therein is human power, in transference, not in creation; & therein is human destiny, not in longevity but in removal. We dive & reappear in new places.
Ralph Waldo EmersonWe live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul.
Ralph Waldo EmersonManners aim to facilitate life, to get rid of impediments, and bring the man pure to energize. They aid our dealing and conversation, as a railway aids travelling, by getting rid of all avoidable obstructions of the road, and leaving nothing to be conquered but pure space.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIn conversation the game is, to say something new with old words. And you shall observe a man of the people picking his way along, step by step, using every time an old boulder, yet never setting his foot on an old place.
Ralph Waldo EmersonA beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form; it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of fine arts.
Ralph Waldo EmersonHe, who loves the bristle of bayonets, only sees in their glitter what beforehand he feels in his hand.
Ralph Waldo EmersonStrong men greet war, tempest, hard times. They wish, as Pindar said, to tread the floors of hell, with necessities as hard as iron.
Ralph Waldo EmersonHe that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatest of the soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported without the latter.
Ralph Waldo EmersonNot for nothing one face, one character, one fact makes much impression on him, and another none.
Ralph Waldo EmersonAmong the multitude of scholars and authors, we feel no hallowing presence; we are sensible of a knack and skill rather than of inspiration; they have a light, and know not whence it comes, and call it their own; their talent is some exaggerated faculty, some overgrown member, so that their strength is a disease.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIn every situation do the thing you fear. If you do the thing you fear, the death of fear is certain.
Ralph Waldo EmersonSome will always be above others. Destroy the inequality today, and it will appear again tomorrow.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIt is much better to learn the elements of geology, of botany, or ornithology and astronomy by word of mouth from a companion than dully from a book.
Ralph Waldo EmersonI think all men know better than they do; know that the institutions we so volubly commend are go-carts and baubles; but they darenot trust their presentiments.
Ralph Waldo EmersonEnthusiasm is the leaping lightning, not to be measured by the horse-power of the understanding
Ralph Waldo EmersonLet us not look east and west for materials of conversation, but rest in presence and unity. A just feeling will fast enough supply fuel for discourse, if speaking be more grateful than silence. When people come to see us, we foolishly prattle, lest we be inhospitable. But things said for conversation are chalk eggs. Don't say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.
Ralph Waldo EmersonLife must be lived on a higher plane. We must go up to a higher platform, to which we are always invited to ascend; there, the whole aspect of things changes.
Ralph Waldo EmersonWe cannot let our angels go; we do not see that they only go out that archangels may come in.
Ralph Waldo EmersonOur age is very cheap and intelligible. Unroof any house, and you shall find it. The well-being consists in having a sufficiency of coffee and toast, with a daily newspaper; a well glazed parlor, with marbles, mirrors and centre-table; and the excitement of a few parties and a few rides in a year.
Ralph Waldo EmersonHeroism works in contradiction to the voice of mankind and in contradiction, for a time, to the voice of the great and good. Heroism is an obedience to a secret impulse of an individual
Ralph Waldo Emerson