Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson

A vivid thought brings the power to paint it; and in proportion to the depth of its source is the force of its projection.

Men do not believe in the power of education. We do not think we can speak to divine sentiments in man, and we do not try. We renounce all high aims.

You think me the child of circumstance; I make my circumstance.

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

We know that madness belongs to love,--what power to paint a vile object in hues of heaven.

Besides the general infusion of wit to heighten civility, the direct splendor of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society, as the costliest addition to its rule and its credit.

The people know that they need in their representative much more than talent, namely, the power to make his talent trusted.

Whilst all the world is in pursuit of power, culture corrects the theory of success.

Wherever there is power there is age.

The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence.

The prayer of the farmer kneeling in his field to weed it, the prayer of the rower kneeling with the stroke of his oar, are true prayers heard throughout nature.

Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer.

Mankind have such a deep stake in inward illumination, that there is much to be said by the hermit or monk in defence of his life of thought and prayer.

The wise man in the storm prays God not for safety from danger but for deliverance from fear.

Though I am weak yet God when prayed Cannot withhold his conquering aid.

Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view.

The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.

Hospitality consists in a little fire, a little food, and an immense quiet

Crime and punishment grow out of one stem.

Law rules throughout existence, a Law which is not intelligent, but Intelligence.

Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence.

We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken.

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.

Good is positive. Evil is merely privative, not absolute: it is like cold, which is the privation of heat. All evil is so much death or nonentity. Benevolence is absolute and real. So much benevolence as a man hath, so much life hath he.