Ralph Waldo Emerson, (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, and poet Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [1-30] of 30 Ralph Waldo Emerson quotesRalph Waldo Emerson QuotesRalph Waldo Emerson Next 30 quotes A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine Providence in behalf of the human race.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Character is higher than intellect... A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Don't say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Fame is proof that the people are gullible.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson That which we call sin in others is experiment for us.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson The highest compact we can make with our fellow is - "Let there be truth between us two forevermore." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson We grant no dukedoms to the few, We hold like rights and shall; Equal on Sunday in the pew, On Monday in the mall. For what avail the plough or sail, Or land, or life, if freedom fail?~ Ralph Waldo Emerson What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail?~ Ralph Waldo Emerson The less government we have the better - the fewer laws and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal government is the influence of private character, the growth of the individual.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Good men must not obey the laws too well.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Persecution readily knits friendship between its victims.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Every actual state is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Man exists for his own sake and not to add a laborer to the State.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Democracy is morose, and runs to anarchy.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson People only see what they are prepared to see.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Liberty is a slow fruit.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Who shall forbid a wise skepticism, seeing that there is no practical question on which anything more than an approximate solution can be had?~ Ralph Waldo Emerson We are students of words; we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson In dealing with the State, we ought to remember that its institutions are not aboriginal, though they existed before we were born; that they are not superior to the citizen; that every one of them was once the act of a single man; every law and usage was a man's expedient to meet a particular case; that they all are imitable, all alterable; we may make as good; we may make better.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson We seldom see anybody who is not uneasy or afraid to live.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson When you strike at a king, you must kill him.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Wherever a man comes, there comes revolution. The old is for slaves.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Next 30 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print