Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Essay 'Circles', Essays: First Series (1841)
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Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes
1803-1882 ยท Philosophers and ancient wisdom
American essayist and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement.
11 quotes, 11 traced to where Emerson said or wrote them.
The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.
Essay 'Friendship', Essays: First Series (1841)
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Essay 'Self-Reliance' (1841)
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
Essay 'Self-Reliance' (1841)
To be great is to be misunderstood.
Essay 'Self-Reliance' (1841)
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Essay 'Self-Reliance' (1841)
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.
Essay 'Prudence', Essays: First Series (1841)
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Essay 'Works and Days', Society and Solitude (1870)
Every artist was first an amateur.
'Progress of Culture', Letters and Social Aims (1876)
The ancestor of every action is a thought.
Essay 'Spiritual Laws', Essays: First Series (1841)
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances... Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Essay 'Worship', The Conduct of Life (1860)