The quotations of

Ralph Waldo Emerson

American philosopher

1803–1882

102 quotes, most often on Friendship, Nature and Beauty. Part of the Poets collection.

‘Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakenly meant for his ear.
Society and Solitude (1870), Success
- Reading
Bad times have a scientific value. […] We learn geology the morning after the earthquake, on ghastly diagrams of cloven mountains, upheaved plains, and the dry bed of the sea.
The Conduct of Life (1860)
- Experience
I should as soon think of swimming across Charles River when I wish to go to Boston, as of reading all my books in originals when I have them rendered for me in my mother tongue.
Society and Solitude (1870), Books
- Reading
Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.
Nature (1836), Language
- Nature
Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind.
Poems (1847), Ode: Inscribed to W. H. Channing, st. 7
- Money
There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet.
Nature (1836), Nature
- Nature
- Poetry
If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!
Nature (1836), Nature
- God
- Nature
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing.
Nature (1836), Nature
- Nature
Slowly, slowly the Avenger comes, but comes surely.
The Fugitive Slave Law, a lecture in NYC (March 7, 1854)
- Justice
Explore, and explore, and explore. Be neither chided nor flattered out of your position of perpetual inquiry. Neither dogmatise yourself, nor accept another’s dogmatism.
Literary Ethics (1838)
- Advice
- Thinking
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Concord Hymn (1837)In context
- America
- History
The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made.
The Conservative (1841)
- Change
- Politics
The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.
Journal (25 May 1843)
- Nature
The man who renounces himself, comes to himself.
Divinity College Address (1838), p. 6
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.
The Conduct of Life (1860), Worship
- War & Peace

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