Quotes by Waldo Emerson The ancestor of every action is a thought. —Ralph Waldo Emerson David Allen ancestor-worship waldo-emerson action President Heber J. Grant often quoted the following statement, which is sometimes attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do-not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased.' Heber J. Grant waldo-emerson president sometimes When [Ralph Waldo] Emerson visited Thoreau in jail and asked, 'What are you doing in there?' it was reported that Thoreau replied, 'What are you doing out there?' Howard Zinn ralph-waldo waldo-emerson jail He had gone to the higher Sierras... [about Ralph Waldo Emerson's death] John Muir ralph-waldo waldo-emerson gone