It has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature that a man, having once shown himself capable of original writing, is entitled thenceforth to steal from the writings of others at discretion. Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes From Ralph Waldo Emerson The modernness of all good books seems to give men an existence as wide as man. Ralph Waldo Emerson giving men book The customer is the immediate jewel of our souls. Him we flatter, him we feast, compliment, vote for, and will not contradict. Ralph Waldo Emerson united-states soul jewels For you, o broker, there is no other principle but arithmetic. For me, commerce is of trivial import; love, faith, truth of character, the aspiration of man, these are sacred; nor can I detach one duty, like you, from all other duties, and concentrate my forces mechanically on the payment of moneys. Ralph Waldo Emerson money character men This whole business of Trade gives me to pause and think, as it constitutes false relations between men; inasmuch as I am prone tocount myself relieved of any responsibility to behave well and nobly to that person who I pay with money, whereas if I had not that commodity, I should be put on my good behavior in all companies, and man would be a benefactor to man, as being himself his only certificate that he had a right to those aids and services which each asked of the other. Ralph Waldo Emerson money responsibility men Of the Shaker society, it was formerly a sort of proverb in the country, that they always sent the devil to market. Ralph Waldo Emerson shakers devil country I look on trade and every mechanical craft as education also. But let me discriminate what is precious herein. There is in each ofthese works an act of invention, an intellectual step, or short series of steps taken; that act or step is the spiritual act; all the rest is mere repetition of the same a thousand times. Ralph Waldo Emerson taken spiritual education The paid wealth which hundreds in the community acquire in trade, or by the incessant expansions of our population and arts, enchants the eyes of all the rest; the luck of one is the hope of thousands, and the bribe acts like the neighborhood of a gold mine to impoverish the farm, the school, the church, the house, and the very body and feature of man. Ralph Waldo Emerson eye art school The best political economy is the care and culture of men; for, in these crises, all are ruined except such as are proper individuals, capable of thought, and of new choice and the application of their talent to new labor. Ralph Waldo Emerson political choices men A man should not be a silkworm; nor a nation a tent of caterpillars. Ralph Waldo Emerson tents should men Then climate is a great impediment to idle persons; we often resolve to give up the care of the weather, but still we regard the clouds and the rain. Ralph Waldo Emerson giving-up rain clouds The Frenchman invented the ruffle; the Englishman added the shirt. Ralph Waldo Emerson ruffles shirts england Our civility, England determines the style of, inasmuch as England is the strongest of the family of existing nations, and as we are the expansion of that people. It is that of a trading nation; it is a shopkeeping civility. The English lord is a retired shopkeeper, and has the prejudices and timidities of that profession. Ralph Waldo Emerson expansion style people There is no country in which so absolute a homage is paid to wealth. In America there is a touch of shame when a man exhibits theevidences of large property, as if after all it needed apology. But the Englishman has pure pride in his wealth, and esteems it a final certificate. A coarse logic rules throughout all English souls: if you have merit, can you not show it by your good clothes and coach and horses? Ralph Waldo Emerson horse apology country A seashell should be the crest of England, not only because it represents a power built on the waves, but also the hard finish ofthe men. The Englishman is finished like a cowry or a murex. Ralph Waldo Emerson wave england men A Frenchman may possibly be clean; an Englishman is conscientiously clean. Ralph Waldo Emerson cleanliness england may What opium is instilled into all disaster? It shows formidable as we approach it, but there is at last no rough rasping friction,but the most slippery sliding surfaces. We fall soft on a thought. Ralph Waldo Emerson pain suffering fall No man ever came to an experience which was satiating, but his good is tidings of a better. Onward and onward! Ralph Waldo Emerson progress experience men Good as is discourse, silence is better, and shames it. The length of the discourse indicates the distance of thought betwixt the speaker and the hearer. If they were at a perfect understanding in any part, no words would be necessary thereon. If at one in all parts, no words would be suffered. Ralph Waldo Emerson distance silence perfect We are sure that, though we know not how, necessity does comport with liberty, the individual with the world, my polarity with thespirit of the times. The riddle of the age has for each a private solution. Ralph Waldo Emerson liberty understanding age Because the soul is progressive, it never quite repeats itself, but in every act attempts the production of a new and fairer whole. Ralph Waldo Emerson never-quit creativity soul
