Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson with religion

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

American poet and philosopher

Lived from: 1803 - 1882

Category: Philosophers | Poets (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited States

Born: 25 may 1803 Died: 27 april 1882

  • 'Tis a superstition to insist on a special diet. All is made at last of the same chemical atoms.
  • Courage charms us, because it indicates that a man loves an idea better than all things in the world, that he is thinking neither of his bed, nor his dinner, nor his money, but will venture all to put in act the invisible thought of his mind.
  • Society is infested by persons who, seeing that the sentiments please, counterfeit the expression of them. These we call sentimentalists - talkers who mistake the description for the thing, saying for having.
  • The studious class are their own victims: they are thin and pale, their feet are cold, their heads are hot, the night is without sleep, the day a fear of interruption - pallor, squalor, hunger, and egotism.
  • Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.
  • That which we call character is a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain undemonstrable force, a familiar or genius, by whose impulses the man is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart.
  • Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding.
  • Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world.
  • The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.
  • The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue; and no genius can long or often utter anything which is not invited and gladly entertained by men around him.
  • Sincerity is the luxury allowed, like diadems and authority, only to the highest rank. Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.
  • Books are the best of things if well used; if abused, among the worst. They are good for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system.
  • What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul's emphasis is always right.
  • Nothing is beneath you if it is in the direction of your life.
+11

Quotes 1 till 6 of 6.

  • As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
    - +
     0
  • I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
    - +
     0
  • Religion is as effectually destroyed by bigotry as by indifference.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
    - +
     0
  • The fatal trait of the times is the divorce between religion and morality.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
    - +
     0
  • The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.
    Works (1913) IV, 315
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
    - +
     0
  • The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
    - +
     0
All Ralph Waldo Emerson with religion famous quotes and sayings you will always find on greatest-quotations.com

Popular subjects

Popular authors

Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson?

The two most famous quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson are:

  • "As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker."
  • "I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow."

When did Ralph Waldo Emerson live?

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in 1803 and died in the year 1882.