Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transcendentalism

Modern influential 113 sayings

Sayings by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world is an immense impression, the copy of an aboriginal, or elder world, which God made once for all.

1836 — Nature
Religious Unverifiable

We are reformers in spring and summer; in autumn and winter, we are conservatives.

1844 — Experience
General Unverifiable

Nature is a mute and merciless mother.

N/A — Often attributed, but exact phrasing needs verification. Similar sentiments can be found in his dark…
General Unverifiable

Every man has a right to be tried by a jury of his peers, but not by a jury of his superiors or his inferiors.

1844 — Politics
General Unverifiable

The end of the world is not the end of the world.

N/A — Possibly a misattribution or a highly contextual statement. Needs verification.
General Unverifiable

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.

1860 — Culture
General Unverifiable

The health of the eye demands a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.

1836 — Nature
General Unverifiable

The beautiful is higher than the good, because it includes the good.

1836 — Nature
General Unverifiable

The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear.

1860 — Conduct of Life
General Unverifiable

Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer.

1841 — Man the Reformer
General Unverifiable

The world is not a inn but a hospital.

1834 — Journal entry
General Unverifiable

Men are what their mothers made them.

1856 — English Traits
General Unverifiable

There are no days in life so memorable as those which bring with them a keen sense of a new birth, as if you had never lived before.

1841 — Essays, First Series
General Unverifiable

The secret of success is to be true to your purpose.

N/A — Often attributed, but exact phrasing needs verification and is likely a compilation of his ideas.
General Unverifiable

Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

1837 — The American Scholar
General Unverifiable

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.

1841 — Essays, First Series
General Unverifiable

The human mind is a device for closing down on reality.

N/A — Often attributed, but exact phrasing and source are elusive. Not a direct quote, but reflects themes…
General Unverifiable

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

1860 — From 'Conduct of Life'
General Confirmed

All mankind love a lover.

1841 — From 'Essays: First Series'
General Unverifiable

Nature is no sentimentalist—does not cosset or pamper us. We must see that the world is rough and surly, and will not mind drowning a man or a woman, but swallows your ship like a grain of dust.

1860 — From 'Fate' in 'The Conduct of Life'
General Unverifiable
Your Cart

Your cart is empty