“In different hours, a man represents each of several of his ancestors, as if there were seven or eight of us rolled up in each man's skin, — seven or eight ancestors at least, — and they constitute the variety of notes for that new piece of music which his life is.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fate
1860s, The Conduct of Life (1860)

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Ralph Waldo Emerson 727

American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882

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“In different hours, a man represents each of several of his ancestors, as if there were seven or eight of us rolled up in each man's skin, — seven or eight ancestors at least, — and they constitute the variety of notes for that new piece of music which his life is.”

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