Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Ralph Waldo Emerson Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: May 25, 1803
  • Died: Apr 27, 1882

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. Following this ground-breaking work, he gave a speech entitled "The American Scholar" in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence".

Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom. wisdom

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. truth

God enters by a private door into every individual. faith & God

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. beauty

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. anger & peace

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. good & time

The only way to have a friend is to be one. friendship

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen. trust

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know. knowledge

Science does not know its debt to imagination. imagination & science

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them. nature & wisdom

Friendship, like the immortality of the soul, is too good to be believed. friendship & good

The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough. health

We acquire the strength we have overcome. strength

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. best & New Year's Day

The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom. freedom & men

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. nature, patience & wisdom

All mankind love a lover. love

We do not yet possess ourselves, and we know at the same time that we are much more. time

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. great & intelligence

Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold. death & great

In every society some men are born to rule, and some to advise. men & society

The best effort of a fine person is felt after we have left their presence. best

Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff. nature

As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey. work

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. peace

The highest revelation is that God is in every man. God

Great hearts steadily send forth the secret forces that incessantly draw great events. great

To be great is to be misunderstood. great

Genius always finds itself a century too early. intelligence

Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense. society

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. travel

All diseases run into one, old age. age

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. wisdom

The value of a dollar is social, as it is created by society. society

Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force - that thoughts rule the world. great & men

In the morning a man walks with his whole body in the evening, only with his legs. morning

The faith that stands on authority is not faith. faith

Money often costs too much. money

No man ever prayed heartily without learning something. learning

Each age, it is found, must write its own books or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. age

The years teach much which the days never know. experience

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. fear

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity. great

Earth laughs in flowers. nature

The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war. peace & war

Trust men and they will be true to you treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. great, men & trust

Every known fact in natural science was divined by the presentiment of somebody, before it was actually verified. science

The sum of wisdom is that time is never lost that is devoted to work. time, wisdom & work

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. time

Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well. great, power & wisdom

God screens us evermore from premature ideas. God

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. life & success

Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams. dreams

Who hears me, who understands me, becomes mine, a possession for all time. time

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. life

Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about. good

Nothing external to you has any power over you. power

Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change. change

Truth is handsomer than the affectation of love. Your goodness must have some edge to it, else it is none. love & truth

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. men & strength

Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men. men & truth

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. friendship & nature

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science. love, men & science

Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same. nature

The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood. great & men

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. intelligence

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. courage

Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. trust

A man is a god in ruins. When men are innocent, life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams. dreams, God, life & men

Nobody can bring you peace but yourself. peace

A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. life

Pictures must not be too picturesque. art

Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both. truth

We gain the strength of the temptation we resist. strength

The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit. freedom

Men's actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action. men

I have no hostility to nature, but a child's love to it. I expand and live in the warm day like corn and melons. love & nature

A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before. courage & great

Truth is beautiful, without doubt but so are lies. truth

With the past, I have nothing to do nor with the future. I live now. future & life

Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass. men

The reason why men do not obey us, is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye. men

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. great

Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. beauty

There is no chance and anarchy in the universe. All is system and gradation. Every god is there sitting in his sphere. God

Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused. beauty

As soon as there is life there is danger. life

Men are what their mothers made them. men & mom

It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. life

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. friendship

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know. life

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered. gardening

There is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right and, again, making all crime mean and ugly. men

Great men or men of great gifts you shall easily find, but symmetrical men never. great & men

I have thought a sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women. good & women

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. life

A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends. friendship

Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries. time

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. fear, learning & life

Every artist was first an amateur. art

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward. beauty

The first wealth is health. fitness & health

Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved. great

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. great & time

No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character. change

The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles. age, best & women

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss. good & science

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. nature

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well. good & men

Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste. time

Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art. art, beauty & love

Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. men

A great man is always willing to be little. great

Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain. death & fear

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. great

We are by nature observers, and thereby learners. That is our permanent state. nature

A good indignation brings out all one's powers. good

A man is usually more careful of his money than he is of his principles. money

In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine. art

We see God face to face every hour, and know the savor of Nature. God & nature

Our faith comes in moments our vice is habitual. faith

Our best thoughts come from others. best

It is not length of life, but depth of life. life

When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it. nature & work

Beauty without expression is boring. beauty

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. wisdom

The fox has many tricks. The hedgehog has but one. But that is the best of all. best

People with great gifts are easy to find, but symmetrical and balanced ones never. great

Power and speed be hands and feet. power

Nature hates calculators. nature

The method of nature: who could ever analyze it? nature

Good men must not obey the laws too well. good & men

We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body. beauty & happiness

Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. life