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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

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Welcome to Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a famous American philosopher, essayist, poet and transcendentalist who wrote on a number of subjects such as freedom, self realization, individuality, nature and spirituality. Enjoy these great inspirational quotes, poems and wisdom by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Quick Facts About Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson was born May 25, 1803 in Boston, Massachusetts. He died April 27, 1882 (aged 78) in Concord, Massachusetts.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson was a philosoper, essayist, poet and transcendentalist. He has influenced many with his views and writings and has imparted great wisdom.
  • Emerson graduated from Harvard in 1821 after which he became a schoolmaster. Later he went back to Harvard and emerged as a Unitarian Minister.
  • In 1836, he published his first essay called Nature. Emerson became a well known author and subsequently made a living as a popular lecturer in New England. He was considered a great orator.
  • Emerson was widely associated with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau.
  • Emerson was greatly influenced by the the Bhagavad Gita and this showed in his many writings.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

Get inspired by these famous Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Courage

Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.2 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Taking Chances

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.1 point

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Greatness

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.1 point

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Spirit and Strength

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.1 point

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Ralph Waldo Emerson on Beauty

Though you may travel the world to find the beautiful, you must have it within you or you will find it not.1 point

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Ralph Waldo Emerson on Friendship

He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,While he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere.1 point

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Friendship

A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on God

God enters by a private door into every individual.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Completion

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Genius

A man of genius is privileged only as far as he is genius. His dullness is as insupportable as any other dullness.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Trust

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Aging and Beauty

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Character

Character is higher than intellect... A great soul will be strong to live, as well as to think.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Exploration

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Love

Give all to love; obey thy heart.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Individuality

Insist on yourself; never imitate... Every great man is unique.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Nature

Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Spirit

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Achievement and Enthusiasm

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Knowledge

Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Inner Peace

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Practice and Persistance

That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Thought and Action

The ancestor of every action is a thought.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Friendship

The only way to have a friend is to be one.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Home and Frienship

The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Time

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Greatness

To be great is to be misunderstood.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Trust

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Experience

Every artist was first an amateur.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Reward

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Overcoming Fear

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, Always do what you are afraid to do.'0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Frienship

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Discovery

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Nature and Genius

When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Education and Teaching

The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Peace

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson on Beauty

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.0 points

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Ralph Waldo Emerson on Service

It is one of the greatest compensations in life that no one can help another without helping themselves.0 points

Ralph Waldo Emerson Wallpaper Quote


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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Meaning of Success According to Ralph Waldo Emerson

A beautiful poem and philosophy to embrace by Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a little better;

whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.

This is the meaning of success.

Excerp Taken From Emerson's Essay "The Over-soul"

"We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul."

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