Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson, known professionally as Waldo Emerson, was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth25 May 1803
CountryUnited States of America
In a virtuous action, I properly am; in a virtuous act, I add to the world; I plant into deserts conquered from Chaos and Nothing, and see the darkness receding on the limits of the horizon.
He is a dull observer whose experience has not taught him the reality and force of magic, as well as of chemistry.
To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven depending on whether they compare it to something better and so feel disappointed and bitter or something worse and so feel relieved and grateful.
Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself especially how you choose to think about your situation.
People only see what they are prepared to see. If you look for what is good and what you can be grateful for you will find it everywhere.
[Gratitude is] the cheerfulness of wisdom.
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.[What is a sorrow? A feeling whose benefits have not yet been discovered]
Women have a less accurate measure of time than men; there is a clock in Adam, none in Eve.
The interminable forests should become graceful parks, for use and delight.
The pest of society are the egotist, they are dull and bright, sacred and profane, course and fine. It is a disease that like the flu falls on all constitutions.
Whom God has put asunder, why should man put together?
The April winds are magical, And thrill our tuneful frames; The garden-walks are passional To bachelors and dames.
Every man's task [his 'great dream' and impassioned life-goal] is his life preserver.
...What torments of pain have you endured that haven't as yet arrived? and may never!