Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. Friedrich Nietzsche thought he was "the most gifted of the Americans," and Walt Whitman called Emerson his "master".

Quotes

Nothing, at last, is sacred; but the integrity of your own mind.
Speak what you think today in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.
The reward for a thing well done is to have done it.
I see her not dispirited, not weak, but well, remembering that she has seen dark times before, indeed with a kind of instinct that she sees a little better in a cloudy day.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
We take care of our health, we lay up money, we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient, but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting the best property of all -- friends?
Talent finds its models, methods, and ends in society, exists for exhibition, and goes to the soul only for power to work. Genius is its own end, and draws its means and the style of its architecture from within.
There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.
Every man I meet is in some way my superior.
Immortality. I notice that as soon as writers broach this question they begin to quote. I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.

Immortality, Quotations
Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.

Quotations
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart.

Patriotism
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.
To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone.
We do what we must, and call it by the best names.
To be great is to be misunderstood.
People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.

Character
Conversation is an art in which a man has all mankind for his competitors, for it is that which all are practising every day while they live.

Conversation

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