WIST

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 (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Boston” (1873)
Written and read for the 100th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

We learn geology the morning after the earthquake.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Considerations by the Way,” The Conduct of Life (1860)

The opium of custom, whereof all drink and many go mad.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Education,” Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1883)

Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Eloquence,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Nature, as we know her, is no saint.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Experience,” Essays: Second Series (1844)

Better be a nettle in the side of your friend than his echo.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Friendship,” Essays: First Series (1841)

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Friendship,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Natural Religion” (3 Feb. 1861)

We cannot overstate our debt to the Past, but the moment has the supreme claim.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Quotations and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Social Aims,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

In good conversation, parties don’t speak to the words, but to the meanings of each other.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Social Aims,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

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 (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Social Aims,” Letters and Social Aims (vol. 8 of The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson) (1917)
Based on a Boston lecture (4 Dec 1864). http://www.bartleby.com/73/186.html

Excellence is lost sight of in the hunger for sudden performance and praise.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Success,” Society and Solitude (1870)

When Carlini was convulsing Naples with laughter, a patient wated on a physician in that city, to obtain some remedy for excessive melancholy, which was rapidly consuming his life. The physician endeavored to cheer his spirits, and advised him to go to the theater and see Carlini. He replied, “I am Carlini.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“The Comic,” closing words, Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Conservatism stands on man’s incontestable limitations; reform on his indisputable infinitiude.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“The Conservative” (lecture), Masonic Temple, Boston (9 Dec 1841)

Nature works in immense time and spends individuals and races prodigally to prepare new individuals and races.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“The Fortune of the Republic,” lecture, Old South Church, Boston (30 Mar 1878)

Divine Providence sends the chiefest benefits under the mask of calamities.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“The Fortune of the Republic,” lecture, Old South Church, Boston (9 Mar 1878)

There is no unemployed force in Nature. All decomposition is recomposition.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“The Man of Letters,” Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1883)

Every observation of history inspires a confidence that we shall not go far wrong; that things will mend.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“The Young American” (lecture), Boston (7 Feb. 1844)

Every observation of history inspires a confidence that we shall not go far wrong; that things will mend.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“The Young American,” lecture, Mercantile Library Association, Boston (7 Feb 1844)

Every hero becomes a bore at last.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Uses of Great Men,” Representative Men (1850)

The shield against the stingings of conscience is the universal practice of our contemporaries. Again, it is very easy to be as wise and good as your companions.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Uses of Great Men,” Representative Men (1850)

Money often costs too much.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Wealth,” The Conduct of Life (1860)

Can anyone remember when times were not hard, and money was not scarce?

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Words and Days,” Society and Solitude (1870)

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
(Attributed)

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
(Attributed)