“Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Art
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Ralph Waldo Emerson 727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882Related quotes

“Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favors call;
She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.”
Source: The Temple of Fame (1711), Line 513.

The Doom of Devorgoil, Bonny Dundee (1830), Chorus.


“When the mind has grasped the matter, words come like flowers at the call of spring.”
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 17

Cowdery's statement upon requesting rebaptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Report to Presidents Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards and the Authorities of the Church, (April 5, 1849).

“That which in England we call the middle class is in America virtually the nation.”
"A Word More About America" (1885)
… The high-sounding phrase "the American way" will be used by interested groups intent on profit, to cover a multitude of sins against the American and Christian tradition, such sins as lawless violence, teargas and shotguns, denial of civil liberties … There is an obligation resting on us all to dedicate our minds to the hard task of thinking in terms of Christian objectives and values, so that we may be saved from moral confusion.
For never, probably, has there been a time when there was a more vigorous effort to surround social and international questions with such a fog of distortion and prejudices and hysterical appeal to fear. We have touched a new low in a Congressional investigation this Summer, used by some participating in it to whip up fear and prejudice against many causes of human welfare, such as concern for peace and the rights of labor to bargain collectively.
Keeping Life Out of Confusion (1938)