Transcendent Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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The religions we call false were once true.

The multitude of false churches accredits the true religion.

Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands.

Never utter the truism but live it among men.

That which shows God in me, fortifies me. That which shows God out of me, makes me a wart and a wen.

The soul lets no man go without some visitations and holy-days of a diviner presence.

The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome.

The reliance on authority measures the decline of religion, the withdrawal of the soul.

The maker of a sentence launches out into the infinite.

All violence, all that is dreary and repels, is not power, but the absence of power.

Drudgery, calamity, exasperation, want, are instructors in eloquence and wisdom.

There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world.

A nation, like a tree, does not thrive well till it is engraffed with a foreign stock.

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude, of giving and forgiving. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

Not the sun or summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight.

Style is only the frame to hold your thoughts. It is like the sash of a window; if heavy, it will obscure the light.

Knowledge is the antidote to fear.

That man is idle who can do something better.

It is dainty to be sick if you have leisure and convenience for it.

I look on that man as happy, who, when there is question of success, looks into his work for a reply.

Give me wine to wash me clean of the weather-stains of cares.

Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.

It is a luxury to be understood.

Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.

Repose and cheerfulness is the badge of the gentleman; repose in energy.

When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.

Every man contemplates an angel in his future self.

Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men or they are no better than dreams.

The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more.

Many a man had taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.

When duty whispers low, Thou must, The youth replies, I can.

It is very hard to be simple enough to be good.

Sleep lingers all our lifetime about our eyes, as night hovers all day in the boughs of the fir-tree.

Magic and all that is ascribed to it is a deep presentiment of the powers of science.

Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good.

The best picture makes us say, I am a painter also.

The river knows the way to the sea:
Without a pilot it runs and falls,
Blessing all lands with its charity.

To a dull mind all of nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.

To the illuminated mind the whole world sparkles with light.

The great will not condescend to take anything seriously.

When the spirit is not master of the world, then it is its dupe.

Self trust is the essence of heroism.

The heroic soul does not sell its justice and its nobleness.

Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right.

When a man says to me, I have the intensest love of nature, at once I know that he has none.

The walking of Man is falling forwards.

Great men do not content us. It is their solitude, not their force, that makes them conspicuous.

All great successes are the triumph of persistence.

One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive one.

Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory.

Wherever work is done, victory is attained.

Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart.

The chief mourner does not always attend the funeral.

A man's library is a sort of harem.

Guard your own spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds.

The surest poison is time.

A beautiful soul always dwells in a beautiful world.

The greatest man in history was the poorest.

The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is, and all that will ever be.

He only is rich who owns the day.

It does not hurt weak eyes to look into beautiful eyes never so long.

Perception is a mirror not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.

Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book.

Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.

Love not the flower they pluck and know it not, And all their botany is Latin names.

Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.

How cunningly nature hides every wrinkle of her inconceivable antiquity under roses and violets and morning dew!

Dream delivers us to dream and there is no end to illusion.

Your goodness must have some edge to it -- else it is none.

Every man passes his life in the search after friendship.

I have heard that whoever loves is in no condition old.

Life is short but there is always time for courtesy.

You cannot sincerely try to help another without helping yourself.

Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.

Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief in denying them.

The power of a man increases steadily by continuing in one direction.

One idea lights a thousand candles.

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions.

Love is like wildflowers; it's often found in the most unlikely places.

Traveling is a fool's paradise.

Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it well and serenely.

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

Go oft to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.

The only prudence in life is concentration.

History is the action and reaction of these two, nature and thought.

When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.

Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors.

Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him.

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

The only thing grief has taught me is to know how shallow it is.

His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.

We wake from one dream into another dream.

It's the not the destination, it's the journey.

There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.

Tis the good reader that makes the good book.

Money often costs too much.

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.

Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.

Scatter joy!

God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.