Discover the profound wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson through his timeless quotes. From inspiring words on self-discovery and happiness to embracing life's adventures, delve into the brilliance of Emerson's thoughts that will leave you pondering and uplifted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, known as Waldo, was a renowned American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet. He played a leading role in the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century and was regarded as a champion of individualism. Emerson's philosophy of transcendentalism is best expressed in his essay "Nature" and his speech "The American Scholar," which were highly influential in American intellectual thought. His essays, including "Self-Reliance" and "The Over-Soul," explore ideas of individuality, freedom, and the connection between the soul and the world. Emerson's work had a profound impact on future thinkers, writers, and poets.
Born in Boston in 1803 to a Unitarian minister father and a mother of English ancestry, Emerson grew up surrounded by strong female influences. He attended Harvard College and later became a teacher before spending two years living in nature to study and write. During this time, he faced poor health and traveled to seek warmer climates. It was during his stay in St. Augustine that he encountered the harsh reality of slavery firsthand. This experience further shaped his beliefs and advocacy for individual freedom.
Overall, Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas on transcendentalism influenced American intellectual thought significantly. His belief in individuality, freedom, and mankind's potential for realization has left a lasting impact on subsequent generations of thinkers and writers alike.
“A good symbol is the best argument, and is a missionary to persuade thousands.”
Poetry and Imagination
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Books, Letters and Social Aims http://www.rwe.org/comm/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=74&Itemid=149 (1876)
1840s, Essays: Second Series (1844), Nature
“The silent organ loudest chants
The master's requiem.”
Dirge
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion.”
Lectures and Biographical Sketches, The Preacher
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
To J.W. http://www.emersoncentral.com/poems/to_jw.htm, st. 4
1840s, Poems (1847)
“Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care.”
To the humble Bee
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Days http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=l&p=c&a=p&ID=20591&c=323
1860s, May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
“You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both.”
October 1842
1820s, Journals (1822–1863)
“The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome.”
Uses of Great Men
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.”
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Circles
To the humble Bee
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Thought is the property of him who can entertain it, and of him who can adequately place it.”
Shakespeare; or, The Poet
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
“As there is a use in medicine for poisons, so the world cannot move without rogues.”
Power
1860s, The Conduct of Life (1860)
“Goethe; or, the Writer,” p. 274
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
Investigations have failed to confirm this in Emerson's writings (John H. Lienhard. "A better moustrap" http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1163.htm, Engines of our Ingenuity). Also reported as a misattribution in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 25. Note that Emerson did say, as noted above, "I trust a good deal to common fame, as we all must. If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods".
Misattributed
“Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind.”
Ode, inscribed to W. H. Channing
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
New England Reformers
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Essays, First Series
“A man is a bundle of relations, a knot of roots, whose flower and fruitage is the world.”
History
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Essays, First Series
“The alleged power to charm down insanity, or ferocity in beasts, is a power behind the eye.”
The Conduct of Life, Behaviour
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Wherever a man comes, there comes revolution. The old is for slaves.”
The Divinity College Address (1838)
“The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue.”
English Traits, Race
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), History
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Self-Reliance
“Music is the poor man's Parnassus.”
Poetry and Imagination
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Books, Letters and Social Aims http://www.rwe.org/comm/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=74&Itemid=149 (1876)
“A nation never falls but by suicide.”
The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Society and solitude
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Essays, First Series
Brahma, st. 2
1860s, May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.”
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Friendship
“His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.”
Greatness
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“The perception of the comic is a tie of sympathy with other men.”
The Comic
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Books, Letters and Social Aims http://www.rwe.org/comm/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=74&Itemid=149 (1876)
“The wise through excess of wisdom is made a fool.”
Experience
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Goethe; or, the Writer,” pp. 271-272
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
The Comic
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Books, Letters and Social Aims http://www.rwe.org/comm/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=74&Itemid=149 (1876)
“But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together
To make up a year,
And a sphere.”
Fable http://www.emersoncentral.com/poems/fable.htm
1840s, Poems (1847)
“The man in the street does not know a star in the sky.”
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Self-Reliance
“A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking.”
20 June 1831 http://books.google.com/books?id=jJZaAAAAMAAJ&q="A+sect+or+party+is+an+elegant+incognito+devised+to+save+a+man+from+the+vexation+of+thinking"&pg=PA386#v=onepage
1820s, Journals (1822–1863)
Fate
1860s, May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
Love
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841)
“Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
Considerations by the Way
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Variant: Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.
“Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.”
Source: 1830s, Nature http://www.emersoncentral.com/nature.htm (1836), Ch. 3, Beauty
1830s, The American Scholar http://www.emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm (1837)
“The best university that can be recommended to a man of ideas is the gauntlet of the mobs.”
Eloquence
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870)
“Genius is always sufficiently the enemy of genius by over influence.”
1830s, The American Scholar http://www.emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm (1837)
“Out from the heart of Nature rolled
The burdens of the Bible old.”
St. 2
1840s, Poems (1847), The Problem http://www.emersoncentral.com/poems/problem.htm
