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 Where do we find ourselves? In a series of which we do not know the extremes, and believe that it has none. We wake and find ourselves on a stair; there are stairs below us, which we seem to have ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and out of sight. Ralph Waldo Emerson sight life believe Life is not intellectual or critical, but sturdy. Its chief good is for well-mixed people who can enjoy what they find, without question. Ralph Waldo Emerson intellectual life people To me, however, the question of the times resolved itself into a practical question of the conduct of life. How shall I live? We are incompetent to solve the times. Our geometry cannot span the huge orbits of the prevailing ideas, behold their return, and reconcile their opposition. We can only obey our own polarity. Ralph Waldo Emerson orbit life ideas Life is a festival only to the wise. Seen from the nook and chimneyside of prudence, it wears a ragged and dangerous front. Ralph Waldo Emerson festivals wise life The work of vegetation begins first in the irritability of the bark and leaf-buds. Ralph Waldo Emerson bud life firsts I would study, I would know, I would admire forever. Ralph Waldo Emerson study forever life We swim, day by day, on a river of delusions, and are effectually amused with houses and towns in the air, of which the men aboutus are dupes. But life is a sincerity. Ralph Waldo Emerson air men life Nature is thoroughly mediate. It is made to serve. It receives the dominion of man as meekly as the ass on which the Saviour rode.It offers all its kingdoms to man as the raw material which he may mould into what is useful. Man is never weary of working it up. Ralph Waldo Emerson raw-materials nature men I suppose an entire cabinet of shells would be an expression of the whole human mind; a Flora of the whole globe would be so likewise, or a history of beasts; or a painting of all the aspects of the clouds. Everything is significant. Ralph Waldo Emerson nature expression clouds Not in nature but in man is all the beauty and worth he sees. The world is very empty, and is indebted to this gilding, exalting soul for all its pride. Ralph Waldo Emerson pride soul men The mind is a finer body, and resumes its functions of feeding, digesting, absorbing, excluding, and generating, in a new and ethereal element. Here, in the brain, is all the process of alimentation repeated, in the acquiring, comparing, digesting, and assimilating of experience. Here again is the mystery of generation repeated. Ralph Waldo Emerson generations mind brain The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature. Every day, the sun; and after sunset, night and her stars. Ever the winds blow; ever the grass grows. Ralph Waldo Emerson stars nature education But what is classification but the perceiving that these objects are not chaotic, and are not foreign, but have a law which is also the law of the human mind? Ralph Waldo Emerson law mind science The worst feature of this double consciousness is, that the two lives, of the understanding and of the soul, which we lead, reallyshow very little relation to each other; never meet and measure each other: one prevails now, all buzz and din; and the other prevails then, all infinitude and paradise; and, with the progress of life, the two discover no greater disposition to reconcile themselves. Ralph Waldo Emerson understanding soul two The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine. He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of thehuman mind to new influx of light and power; he believes in inspiration, and in ecstacy. Ralph Waldo Emerson inspiration spiritual believe Be sure then to read no mean books. Shun the spawn of the press on the gossip of the hour. Do not read what you shall learn, without asking, in the street and the train. Ralph Waldo Emerson reading mean book Let us not be too much acquainted. I would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred sculptures, that he might not want the hint of tranquillity and self-poise. Ralph Waldo Emerson self house men Really, all things and persons are related to us, but according to our nature, they act on us not at once, but in succession, andwe are made aware of their presence one at a time. All persons, all things which we have known, are here present, and many more than we see; the world is full. Ralph Waldo Emerson influence made world It is said, no man can write but one book; and if a man have a defect, it is apt to leave its impression on all his performances. Ralph Waldo Emerson writing men book Expediency of literature, reason of literature, lawfulness of writing down a thought, is questioned; much is to say on both sides,and, while the fight waxes hot, thou, dearest scholar, stick to thy foolish task, add a line every hour, and between whiles add a line. Ralph Waldo Emerson fighting hot writing
