Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson with world

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.
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Quotes 1 till 20 of 36.

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  • 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.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • A man's personal defects will commonly have with the rest of the world precisely that importance which they have to himself. If he makes light of them, so will other men.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • As there is a use in medicine for poisons, so the world cannot move without rogues.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • Every burned book enlightens the world.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is due to the triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without it.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • Every thought which genius and piety throw into the world alters the world.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • Great people are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • 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?
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • It is said that the world is in a state of bankruptcy, that the world owes the world more than the world can pay.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • It is very easy in the world to live by the opinion of the world. It is very easy in solitude to be self-centered. But the finished man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • 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.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  • The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic.
    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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What are the most famous quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson?

The two most famous quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson are:

  • "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."
  • "Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world."

When did Ralph Waldo Emerson live?

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