Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

There is a blessed necessity by

which the interest of men is always driving them to the right;

and, again, making all crime mean and ugly.

Use what language you will,

you can never say anything but what you are.

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.

The reason why the world lacks unity,

and lies broken and in heaps,

is, because man is disunited with himself.

Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.

Make yourself necessary to somebody.

Every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults.

Fate is nothing but the deeds,

committed in a prior state of existence.

America is another name for opportunity.

Let us be silent,

that we may hear,.

the whispers of the gods

A man is a god in ruins.

When men are innocent,

life shall be longer,

and shall pass into the immortal,

as gently as we awake from dreams.

Every man supposes himself

not to be fully understood or appreciated.

A great man is always willing to be little.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

Philosophically considered,

the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.

Strictly speaking, therefore, all that is separate from us,

all which Philosophy distinguishes as the 'Not Me,' that is,

both nature and art,

all other men and my own body,

must be ranked under this name,

Nature.

Flowers... are a proud assertion

that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.

Society is always taken by surprise

at any new example of common sense.

There is an optical illusion about every person we meet.

I have thought a sufficient measure of civilization is

the influence of good women.

Every artist was first an amateur.