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 He cumbers himself never about consequences, about interests; he gives an independent, genuine verdict. You must court him: he does not court you. But the man is, as it were, clapped into jail by his consciousness. Ralph Waldo Emerson jail independent men Virtues are, in the popular estimate, rather the exception than the rule. There is the man and his virtues. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-reliance virtue men The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is, that it scatters your force. Ralph Waldo Emerson usage self-reliance force But do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson reliance self-reliance knows We love it because it is self dependent, self derived, and therefore of an old immaculate pedigree, even if shown in a young person. Ralph Waldo Emerson pedigree self young I do not wish to please him; I wish that he should wish to please me. Ralph Waldo Emerson please-me self-reliance wish Let a man then know his worth and keep things under his feet. Ralph Waldo Emerson respect feet men The relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure, that it is profane to seek to interpose helps. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-reliance soul spirit If we live truly, we shall see truly. It is as easy for the strong man to be strong, as it is for the weak to be weak. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-reliance strong men I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to seserve that you should. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-reliance break should But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time. Ralph Waldo Emerson eye strong past Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact. Every appearance in nature corresponds to some state of the mind, and that state of the mind can only be described by presenting that natural appearance as its picture. Ralph Waldo Emerson swag nature spiritual The forest is my loyal friend Ralph Waldo Emerson shrines loyal forests Science does not know its debt to imagination. Goethe did not believe that a great naturalist could exist without this faculty. Ralph Waldo Emerson imagination doe believe The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society. Ralph Waldo Emerson sweet men life That which we do not believe, we cannot adequately say; even though we may repeat the words ever so often. Ralph Waldo Emerson belief may believe Go face the fire at sea, or the cholera in your friend's house, or the burglar in your own, or what danger lies in the way of duty, knowing you are guarded by the cherubim of Destiny. If you believe in Fate to your harm, believe it, at least, for your good. Ralph Waldo Emerson friendship believe lying Freedom is not the right to live as we please, but the right to find how we ought to live in order to fulfill our potential. Ralph Waldo Emerson freedom wisdom order Let there be worse cotton and better men. Ralph Waldo Emerson cotton men peace When you have worn out yourshoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fiber ofyour body. I measure your health by the number of shoes and hats andclothes you have worn out. Ralph Waldo Emerson shoes hiking numbers
