Quotes About Connection

Yes, but does Maine have anything to SAY to Florida?

1842  Son Waldo (age 5) dies of scarlet fever.  Journalist Walt Whitman (age 23) attends Emerson's lecture on poetry in New York City. In his report for the New York Aurora, Whitman writes that it was the "richest and most beautiful" lecture he'd ever heard. On the same New York trip, Emerson becomes godfather to newborn William James, son of his friend, Henry James, Sr.

Treat all people as if they are real, because who knows, perhaps they are.

In eloquence, the great triumphs of the art are when the orator is lifted above himself; when consciously he makes himself the mere tongue of the occasion and the hour, and says what cannot but be said. Hence the term abandonment, to describe the self-surrender of the orator. Not his will, but the principle on which he is horsed, the great connection and crisis of events, thunder in the ear of the crowd.

In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, — he is my creature, and [in spite of] all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me.

The soul is what knows—and draws us towards—truth, beauty, and goodness. Moreover, for Emerson, each person's soul is only a part of the great, universal "over-soul." He describes the soul as a vast ocean, with our individual souls being tiny inlets into the shore. Individuality is an illusion—really, we're all connected, like fingers extending from one hand.

The universe is an amazing puzzle, I thought as I looked upon this dizzying series of forms—radiant crystals, shining metals, gauzy butterflies, sea shells that seemed carved by a master artisan, the birds, beasts, insects, snakes, fish. All things are united by the same life force. Even rocks are formed from the same elements, sharing a kinship with plants and animals. These diverse expressions of nature seem so different at first glance, yet ultimately they are all connected.

Then, when all is done, a person of related mind, a brother or sister by nature, comes to us so softly and easily, so nearly and intimately, as if it were the blood in our proper veins, that we feel as if some one was gone, instead of another having come; we are utterly relieved and refreshed; it is a sort of joyful solitude.

As a plant upon the earth, so a man rests upon the bosom of God; he is nourished by unfailing fountains, and draws, at his need, inexhaustible power. Who can set bounds to the possibilities of man?

The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?

We walk alone in the world. Friends, such as we desire, are dreams and fables

Each creature is only a modification of the other; the likeness in them is more than the difference, and their radical law is one and the same.

Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.

Our friendships hurry to short and poor conclusions, because we have made them a texture of wine and dreams, instead of the tough fiber of the human heart.

In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,—no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate

In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,—no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.

This sense of harmony between the outside and inside worlds doesn't fade as scientific knowledge increases. Instead, with each new law that science reveals, the analogies between nature and ourselves grow deeper. Every discovery about the universe brings us a greater understanding of ourselves.

This relation between the mind and matter is not fancied

If you do not need to hear my thought, because you can read it in my face and behavior, then I will tell it you from sunrise to sunset.

Cause and effect are two sides of one fact.

Ein Freund ist ein Mensch, vor dem man laut denken kann.

My book should smell of pines and resound with the hum of insects. The swallow over my window should interweave that thread or straw he carries in his bill into my web also.

Philosophically considered, the universe consists of Nature and the Soul.

There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. [...] Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.