If you are wise, you will dread a prosperity which only loads you with more. Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes From Ralph Waldo Emerson Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers. It writes biographies, histories and criticism. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-reliance writing father Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. Ralph Waldo Emerson twilight sky snow For it is not metres, but a metre-making argument that makes a poem, - a thought so passionate and alive that like the spirit of a plant or an animal it has an architecture of its own, and adorns nature with a new thing. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-reliance passionate animal Man is a stream whose source is hidden. Our being is descending into us from we know not whence. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-reliance source men The poise of a plant, the bended tree recovering itself from the strong wind, the vital resources of every vegetable and animal, are also demonstrations of the self-sufficing, and therefore self-relying soul. All history from its highest to its trivial passages is the various record of this power. Ralph Waldo Emerson strong self animal I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instil is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, - that is genius. Ralph Waldo Emerson heart men believe The corruption of man is followed by the corruption of language. Ralph Waldo Emerson language evil men Self Esteem::"It is very easy in the world to live by the opinion of the world. It is very easy in solitude to be self-centered. But the finished man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. I knew a man of simple habits and earnest character who never put out his hands nor opened his lips to court the public, and having survived several rotten reputations of younger men, honor came at last and sat down with him upon his private bench from which he had never stirred." Ralph Waldo Emerson self-esteem simple character In private places, among sordid objects, an act of truth or heroism seems at once to draw to itself the sky as its temple, the sun as its cradle. Nature stretches out her arms to embrace man, only let his thoughts be of equal greatness. Ralph Waldo Emerson greatness truth men By virtue of this science the poet is the Namer, or Language-maker, naming things sometimes after their appearance, sometimes after their essence, and giving to every one its own name and not another's, thereby rejoicing the intellect, which delights in detachment or boundary. Ralph Waldo Emerson essence names giving If we meet no gods, it is because we harbor none. Ralph Waldo Emerson harbors ifs god Let not the emphasis of hospitality lie in bed and board; but let truth and love and honor and courtesy flow in all thy deeds. Ralph Waldo Emerson honor thank-you lying Genius is always sufficiently the enemy of genius by over influence. The literature of every nation bear me witness. The English dramatic poets have Shakspearized now for two hundred years. Ralph Waldo Emerson two enemy years No power of genius has ever yet had the smallest success in explaining existence. The perfect enigma remains. Ralph Waldo Emerson genius perfect success What is originality? It is being one's self, and reporting accurately what we see and are. Ralph Waldo Emerson originality accuracy self I suppose every old scholar has had the experience of reading something in a book which was significant to him, but which he could never find again. Sure he is that he read it there, but no one else ever read it, nor can he find it again, though he buy the book and ransack every page. Ralph Waldo Emerson pages reading book Cultivate an attitude of gratitude, of giving and forgiving. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson gratitude thank-you peace Greek architecture is the flowering of geometry. Ralph Waldo Emerson geometry architecture greek Deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth. Ralph Waldo Emerson gambling honesty lasts What is the foundation of that interest all men feel in Greek history, letters, art, and poetry, in all its periods, from the Heroic or Homeric age down to the domestic life of the Athenians and Spartans, four or five centuries later? What but this, that every man passes personally through a Grecian period. Ralph Waldo Emerson greek men art
