The most active lives have so much routine as to preclude progress almost equally with the most inactive. Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes From Ralph Waldo Emerson Let us take our bloated nothingness out of the path of the divine circuits. Ralph Waldo Emerson circuits divine path Teach that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake. Ralph Waldo Emerson teach Faith and love are apt to be spasmodic in the best minds: Men live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which yet they never enter, and with their hand on the doorlatch they die outside. Ralph Waldo Emerson faith inspirational men Keep your friendships in repair. Ralph Waldo Emerson patience friendship Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today. Let us treat men and women well; treat them as if they were real; perhaps they are. Ralph Waldo Emerson real wise men I am sure of this, that by going much alone a man will get more of a noble courage in thought and word than from all the wisdom that is in books. Ralph Waldo Emerson wise men book Nothing in nature is exhausted in its first use...In God, every end is converted into a new means. Ralph Waldo Emerson use mean firsts Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson single truth integrity Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakenly meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart. Ralph Waldo Emerson reading heart book Moderation in all things, especially moderation. Ralph Waldo Emerson moderation-in-all-things moderation all-things The people are to be taken in very small doses. Ralph Waldo Emerson public-speaking taken people There is in nature a parallel unity which corresponds to the unity in the mind and makes it available. This methodizing mind meets no resistance in its attempts. The scattered blocks, with which it strives to form a symmetrical structure, fit. This design following after finds with joy that like design went before. Not only man puts things in a row, but things belong in a row. Ralph Waldo Emerson design block men The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character, and the greater it grows, the more is the mischief. Talent is mistaken for genius, a dogma or system for truth, ambition for greatness, ingenuity for poetry, sensuality for art. Ralph Waldo Emerson ambition character art The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. Ralph Waldo Emerson eye hero past The roses under my window make no reference to former roses or better ones; they are what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Ralph Waldo Emerson perfect rose time The South-wind brings Life, sunshine and desire, And on every mount and meadow Breathes aromatic fire; But over the dead he has no power, The lost, the lost, he cannot restore; And, looking over the hills, I mourn The darling who shall not return. Ralph Waldo Emerson sunshine fire wind But, if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from these heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime... But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile. Ralph Waldo Emerson stars men night Prayer that craves a particular commodity—anything less than all good, is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good. But prayer as a means to effect a private end is theft and meanness. It supposes dualism and not unity in nature and consciousness. As soon as the man is at one with God, he will not beg. Ralph Waldo Emerson prayer men mean The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide. Him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him because he did not need it. Ralph Waldo Emerson eye doors men All men plume themselves on the improvement of society, and no man improves. Ralph Waldo Emerson improvement men
