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Ralph Waldo Emerson

137 quotes

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. His essays, including "Self-Reliance" and "Nature," champion individuality, freedom, and the inherent goodness of people and nature. He remains one of America's most influential thinkers.

“Power and speed be hands and feet.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Power

All Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Men are what their mothers made them.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Great

“Every artist was first an amateur.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Art

“Our faith comes in moments our vice is habitual.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Faith

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Courage

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Best

“We see God face to face every hour, and know the savor of Nature.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

God

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Society

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Money

“Earth laughs in flowers.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature

“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.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good

“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.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dreams

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Great

“Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Great

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men