Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
1803–1882 United States
Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May 1803 – 27 April 1882) was an American philosopher, essayist, and poet.
- United States
- 19th-century poets
- Academics
- Deaths
- Educators
Also known as: Emerson, Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Representative Men
Random Ralph Waldo Emerson quote
583 quotes
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
There is always a certain meanness in the argument of conservatism, joined with a certain superiority in its fact.
The Conservative (1841)
Echo waits with art and care
And will the faults of song repair.
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
One thing is forever good;
That one thing is Success.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.
Nature paints the best part of a picture, carves the best parts of the statue, builds the best part of the house, and speaks the best part of the oration.
Society and Solitude (1870)
The greatest man in history was the poorest.
Only so much do I know, as I have lived.
People say law but they mean wealth.
Journals (1822)
A nation never falls but by suicide.
Journals (1822)
Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in?
Representative Men (1850)
I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.
You must pay at last your own debt. If you are wise, you will dread a prosperity which only loads you with more.
Shall we judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely.
To-day unbind the captive,
So only are ye unbound;
Lift up a people from the dust,
Trump of their rescue, sound!
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
Life is too short to waste
The critic bite or cynic bark,
Quarrel, or reprimand;
'Twill soon be dark;
Up! mind thine own aim, and
God speed the mark!
Poems (1847)
Of all debts men are least willing to pay the taxes. What a satire is this on government! Everywhere they think they get their money’s worth, except for these.
Olympian bards who sung
Divine ideas below,
Which always find us young
And always keep us so.
Poems (1847)