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Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

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Famous Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men - that is genius... Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist... What I must do, is all that concerns me; not what the people think... Nothing can bring you peace but yourself; nothing, but the triumph of principles.”

PeopleThinkingMenBelieveHeartWould BePrinciplesAtheismGeniusConcernPositive AtheismTriumphBe A ManNonconformist
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“Our young people are diseased with the theological problems of original sin, origin of evil, predestination, and the like. These never presented a practical difficulty to any man,--never darkened across any man's road, who did not go out of his way to seek them. These are the soul's mumps, and measles, and whooping- coughs, and those who have not caught them cannot describe their health or prescribe a cure. A simple mind will not know these enemies.”

PeopleKnowsMenWayMindSoulProblemYoungEvilSinSimpleEnemyWorryYouthDifficultyOriginalsCaughtPracticalsCuresTheologicalOriginal SinDiseasedPredestinationMeaslesWhooping CoughSimple Minds
Book:Essays
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“Pride can go without domestics, without fine clothes, can live in a house with two rooms, can eat potato, purslain, beans, lyed corn, can work on the soil, can travel afoot, can talk with poor men, or sit silent well contented with fine saloons. But vanity costs money, labor, horses, men, women, health and peace, and is still nothing at last; a long way leading nowhere.--Only one drawback; proud people are intolerably selfish, and the vain are gentle and giving.”

PeopleMenWayGivingWellsLongStillsTwoLastsHousePoorRoomsPrideFineProudCostClothesLaborHorseSilentSelfishVanityVainGentleSoilPotatoesLong WayCornMen WomenBeansPoor ManDrawbacksSaloons
Book:Nature - Conduct of Life
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“In our large cities, the population is godless, materialized,--no bond, no fellow-feeling, no enthusiasm. These are not men, but hungers, thirsts, fevers, and appetites walking. How is it people manage to live on,--so aimless as they are? After their peppercorn aims are gained, it seems as if the lime in their bones alone held them together, and not any worthy purpose.”

PeopleIfsMenFeelingsSeemsTogetherPurposeCitiesWalkingAimFellowsHungerPopulationWorthyBonesManageEnthusiasmAppetiteThirstFeverLimesLarge CitiesFellow Feeling
Book:The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”

PeopleKnowsEyeWalksSilenceKnow HowToo MuchExerciseSpeechClothesTragedyCuriosityShoesEnduranceFitnessTrekkingQualificationsHealth And FitnessGood HumorPhysical ExerciseHealth FitnessExercise And HealthExercise HealthFitness WorkoutWellness And FitnessOld ShoesGood ExerciseWalking Shoes
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think. This rule,equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsMenWorldMayWholeEasyPerfectOpinionLearningGreatnessDutySolitudeIntellectualConcernHarderIndependenceCrowdsGreat MenDistinctionMidstSweetnessSelf RelianceRelianceBetter Than YouMeannessIntellectual Life
Book:Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“I am at a loss to understand why people hold Miss Austen's novels at so high a rate, which seem to me vulgar in tone, sterile in artistic invention, imprisoned in their wretched conventions of English society, without genius, wit, or knowledge of the world. Never was life so pinched and narrow. ... All that interests in any character [is this]: has he (or she) the money to marry with? ... Suicide is more respectable.”

PeopleWorldCharacterSeemsInterestLossNovelMissingGeniusSuicideRateWitInventionArtisticToneConventionsVulgarWretchedRespectableAustenKnowledge Of The WorldEnglish Society
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people.”

PeopleKnowsReasonLightMotivationalPainMotivationEvilAsksGoalAttitudeSunShiningCuriosityHungerSillyPositive AttitudeStupid PeopleMosquitoesPositive Thinking And AttitudeSun ShinesKeep A Positive AttitudeAttitude And LifeGreat Positive AttitudeHaving A Positive AttitudeShort Positive AttitudeThink Positive Be PositivePositive Attitude In LifeDumb PeoplePositive Attitude Towards LifePositive Attitude And SuccessShining ThroughSilly People
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“There never was a strong character that was not made strong by discipline of the will; there never was a strong people that did not rank subordination and discipline among the signal virtues. Subjection to moods is the mark of a deteriorating morality. There is no baser servitude than that of the man whose caprices are his masters, and a nation composed of such men could not long preserve its liberties.”

PeopleMenLongMadeCharacterStrongNationsLibertyVirtueHe ManMastersDisciplineMoralityMarkMoodPreservesSignalsServitudeCapriceSubjectionSubordinationStrong PeopleStrong CharacterDeteriorating
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“When nature removes a great man, people explore the horizon for a successor; but none comes, and none will. His class is extinguished with him. In some other and quite different field, the next man will appear.”

PeopleMenDifferentSuccessNextNatureClassFieldsGreatnessGreat MenRemoveHorizonSuccessors
Book:The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Representative men: seven lectures
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“If you would serve your brother it is fit for you to serve him, do not take back your words when you find that prudent people do not commend you. Be true to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age.”

PeopleIfsInspirationalDoneAgeStrangeBrotherBrokenHeroFitBeing TruePrudentYour BrotherExtravagantMonotony
Book:Essays and English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. V (in 51 Volumes)
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“I suffer whenever I see that common sight of a parent or senior imposing his opinion and way of thinking and being on a young soul to which they are totally unfit. Cannot we let people be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way? You are trying to make that man another you. One's enough.”

PeopleThinkingMenWayTryingSoulEnoughYoungSufferingParentEnjoyCommonOpinionSightSeniorEnjoy LifeWay Of ThinkingImposing
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)
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“The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know truth when we see it, let skeptic and scoffer say what they choose. Foolish people ask you, when you have spoken what they do not wish to hear, 'How do you know it is truth, and not an error of your own?' We know truth when we see it, from opinion, as we know when we are awake that we are awake.”

PeopleKnowsSoulTruthChoicesAsksWishMistakeOpinionSeeingErrorsHearingFoolishPerceiveAwakeTelling The TruthDo You KnowSkepticismRevealingDistinguishedSkepticRelative TruthScoffers
Book:Essays and Lectures
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“The reward of commercial civilization is the ability to consume a never-ending array of products.There are limits beyond which commodities cannot be multiplied without preventing their consumers from affirming themselves through the exercise of their personal freedom.When market dependence reaches a certain threshold it deprives people of their power to live creatively and to act autonomously. And precisely because this new impotence is so deeply experienced, it is expressed with difficulty.”

PeopleCertainAbilityProductsExerciseCivilizationLimitsCapitalismDifficultyRewardsConsumersCommodityDependenceThresholdPreventingNever EndingImpotenceAffirmingPersonal Freedom
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.”

PeopleWorldCharacterSeemsRealizingAttitudeOpinionPositiveConfessionTheftI Hate YouBeing PositiveCharacter BuildingGood CharacterTranscendentalismGreat CharacterConfessingLife AttitudeAttitude And LifeShort Positive AttitudeBuilding CharacterThink Positive Be PositiveCharacter And ReputationInspirational CharacterMotivation And Change
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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