- Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

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

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

Our best thoughts come from others.

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

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

Evermore in the world is this marvelous balance of beauty and disgust, magnificence and rats.

Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side.

That man is idle who can do something better.

The only prudence in life is concentration.

It is much better to learn the elements of geology, of botany, or ornithology and astronomy by word of mouth from a companion than dully from a book.

Do not say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders, so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.

The mass of men worry themselves into nameless graves while here and there a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.

Do what we can, summer will have its flies.

My garden is a forest ledge Which older forest s bound; The banks slope down to the blue lake-edge, Then plunge to depths profound!

There are other measures of self-respect for a man, than the number of clean shirts he puts on every day.

Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret.

Astronomy to the selfish becomes astrology.

No matter how often defeated, you are born to victory.

Talent for talent's sake is a bauble and a show. Talent working with joy in the cause of universal truth lifts the possessor to new power as a benefactor.

The need for a rational consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.

Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.

Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.

We do not want actions, but men; not a chemical drop of water, but rain; the spirit that sheds and showers actions, countless, endless actions.

The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going

You cannot do a kindness too soon.

I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freedom.

It does not need that a poem should be long. Every word was once a poem.

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.

there is no planet, sun, or star could hold you if you but knew what you are.

Make yourself necessary to somebody.

It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself.

Poetry must be as new as foam and as old as the rock.

Science does not know its debt to imagination.

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.

The health of the eye demands a horizon.

Friendship should be surrounded with ceremonies and respects, and not crushed into corners.

The greatest difficulty is that men do not think enough of themselves, do not consider what it is that they are sacrificing when they follow in a herd, or when they cater for their establishment.

What we seek we shall find; what we flee from flees from us.

Man is physical as well as metaphysical, a thing of shreds and patches, borrowed unequally from good and bad ancestors, and a misfit from the start.

Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.

Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak.

One can never truly savor success until first tasting adversity.

It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.

I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being well dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow.

For flowers that bloom about our feet; For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet; For song of bird, and hum of bee; For all things fair we hear or see, Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

When a happy person comes into the room, it is as if another candle has been lit.

Art is a jealous mistress.

To a dull mind all of nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.

Every man is as lazy as he dares to be.