Ralph Waldo Emerson

An individualist, idealist, independent thinker and the leading mind behind Transcendentalism.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

The reason why lunatics swear, is because their exaggerated sensation requires an exaggerated speech.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Yet no words can begin to convey that which they express to us monthly & daily. 2/2

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

How well we know certain winds, certain lights, certain aspects of the soil & the grove. 1/2

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Men of the world value truth in proportion to their ability.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

A man is a Gate betwixt hell & heaven.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Follow the great man & you shall see what the world has at heart in these ages.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

We write from aspiration & antagonism as well as experience. We paint those qualities which we do not possess.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

A rat, a rat,
My kingdom for a cat.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Between narrow walls we walk: — insanity on one side, & fat dulness on the other.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Every hour has its morning, noon, & night.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Every history in the world is my history.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Sometimes I wish to please: & sometimes I do not wish to please you, but I wish that you should wish to please me.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

Yet cannot society come to apprehend the doctrine of One Mind?

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

We are all boarders at one table, — White man, black man, ox and eagle, bee, & worm.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

All diseases run into one, namely, Old Age. We grizzle every day.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

The simplest things are always better than curiosities.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

The speaker does not quote well; the hearer quotes well.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

There is little good quotation. The speaker cannot think of the good texts he suggests to the hearer.

[Ralph Waldo Emerson @Ralph_W_Emerson]

To a profound soul austere truth is the sweetest flattery.