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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.

“It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good

All Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Best

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good

“As soon as there is life there is danger.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life

“The faith that stands on authority is not faith.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Faith

“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

“Nature hates calculators.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature

“A great man is always willing to be little.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Great

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wisdom

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time

“The years teach much which the days never know.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Experience

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Gardening

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Change

“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anger

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friendship

“With the past, I have nothing to do nor with the future. I live now.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Future

“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.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men

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

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wisdom

“Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature