Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson
In May, when sea winds pierced our solitudes,I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,So near is God to man,When Duty whispers low, Thou must,The youth replies, I can.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are always two parties, the party of the Past and the party of the Future; the Establishment and the Movement.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men grind and grind in the mill of a truism, and nothing comes out but what was put in. But the moment they desert the tradition for a spontaneous thought, then poetry, wit, hope, virtue, learning, anecdote, all flock to their aid.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Solitary converse with nature; for thence are ejaculated sweet and dreadful words never uttered in libraries. Ah! the spring days, the summer dawns, and October woods!
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is only when the mind and character slumber that the dress can be seen.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wilt thou seal up the avenues of ill?Pay every debt, as if God wrote the bill.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today unbind the captive,So only are ye unbound;Lift up a people from the dust,Trump of their rescue, sound!
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
With most men, scarce a link of memory holds yesterday and to-day together.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I like a church; I like a cowl;I love a prophet of the soul;And on my heart monastic aislesFall like sweet strains or pensive smiles;Yet not for all his faith can seeWould I that cowlèd churchman be.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson