Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 – 1882
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) was an American philosopher of the Modern era, associated with Transcendentalism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a 19th-century American essayist, lecturer, and poet, the leading figure of the Transcendentalist movement in New England. His 1841 collection Essays: First Series, including the famous Self-Reliance, articulated a distinctively American philosophy of individualism, self-trust, and openness to nature as a source of spiritual insight. He resigned from his Unitarian ministry in 1832 over doctrinal disagreements and made his living thereafter as a public lecturer on the lyceum circuit. His influence shaped subsequent American thought through Thoreau, Whitman, Dickinson, and a long line of later writers including William James and the pragmatists. His call to original thought against tradition and convention defined the Transcendentalist vision.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was the central figure of American Transcendentalism and the most influential American philosopher of the nineteenth century. Born in Boston to a long line of New England ministers, he served briefly as a Unitarian minister himself before resigning over doctrinal scruples in 1832 and reinventing himself as a public lecturer and essayist.
Emerson's first book, Nature (1836), set out the Transcendentalist program: the natural world is a symbol of spiritual reality, and the cultivated individual can read this symbolism through self-reliant intuition rather than through inherited doctrine. The 1837 Phi Beta Kappa address The American Scholar — what Oliver Wendell Holmes called America's intellectual declaration of independence — and the 1838 Divinity School Address, with its open break from Christian doctrinal authority, made Emerson a controversial public intellectual.
The Essays of 1841 and 1844 — including Self-Reliance, Compensation, Spiritual Laws, and The Over-Soul — are Emerson's most influential writings. His circle in Concord included Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Bronson Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Through Nietzsche's enthusiasm for him, Emerson shaped twentieth-century continental philosophy as well as the American intellectual tradition. He continued lecturing into his last decade and died at Concord in 1882.
Key facts
- Nationality
- American
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Transcendentalism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
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Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
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Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.”
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Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”
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“Hitch your wagon to a star.”
Civilization
Ralph Waldo Emerson by topic
Frequently asked about Ralph Waldo Emerson
- When did Ralph Waldo Emerson live?
- Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in 1803 and died in 1882.
- Where was Ralph Waldo Emerson from?
- Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher of the Modern era.
- What philosophical movements is Ralph Waldo Emerson associated with?
- Ralph Waldo Emerson was associated with Transcendentalism.
- What was Ralph Waldo Emerson known for?
- Ralph Waldo Emerson was a 19th-century American essayist, lecturer, and poet, the leading figure of the Transcendentalist movement in New England.
- How many quotes are attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson?
- There are 48 attributed quotations from Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.
Quotes that are not actually from Ralph Waldo Emerson
These lines are widely circulated as Ralph Waldo Emerson, but they do not appear in Ralph Waldo Emerson's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
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“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Although universally attributed to Emerson, this line was written by Henry Stanley Haskins in his 1940 book Meditations in Wall Street. The misattribution to Emerson became widespread in the second half of the 20th century but no source for the line has ever been located in any of Emerson's published essays, addresses, journals, or correspondence.
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“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Although widely circulated as Emerson, this line has not been located in any of his essays, addresses, journals, or letters. Researchers including Quote Investigator have traced the earliest verifiable English appearances to the 20th century. The actual author has not been identified.
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“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting—a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.”
Though attributed to Emerson in Edwards' A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908), p. 37, this quote originates in Politics for the People (1848) by Charles Kingsley .
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“Variation : If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the woods the world will make a beaten path to his door.”
Investigations have failed to confirm this in Emerson's writings (John H. Lienhard. "A better moustrap" , Engines of our Ingenuity ). Also reported as a misattribution in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 25. Note that Emerson did say, as noted above, "I trust a good deal to common fame, as we all must. If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods".
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“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”
Widely attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson on the internet; however, a presumably definitive source of Emerson's works at http://www.rwe.org fails to confirm any occurrence of this phrase across his works. This phrase is found in remarks attributed to Charles A. Beard in Arthur H. Secord, "Condensed History Lesson", Reader's Digest , February 1941, p. 20; but the origin has not been determined. Possibly confused with a passage in "Illusions" in which Emerson discusses his experience in the "Star Chamber": "our lamps were taken from us by the guide, and extinguished or put aside, and, on looking upwards, I saw or seemed to see the night heaven thick with stars glimmering more or less brightly…
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“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
Attributed to Emerson in The Gift of Depression: Twenty-one Inspirational Stories Sharing Experience, Strength, and Hope (2001) by John F. Brown, p. 56, no prior occurrence of this statement has been located; it seems to be derived from one which occurs in The Alchemist (1988) by Paulo Coelho , p. 22: When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
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“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
Attributed to Emerson in Life's Instructions for Wisdom, Success, and Happiness (2000) by H. Jackson Brown Jr., as well as numerous online sources since, the article "The Purpose of Life Is Not To Be Happy But To Matter" at the Quote Investigator indicates that this quote is probably derived from various statements first made by Leo Rosten , including the following words delivered at the National Book Awards held in New York in 1962: "The purpose of life is not to be happy — but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all."
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“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
No known source in Emerson's works; first found as a piece of anonymous folk wisdom in a 1936 newspaper column:
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“No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.”
Widely misattributed to Emerson on the Internet, this quote is actually taken from Alfred North Whitehead's essay "Harvard: The Future" (The Atlantic Monthly, September 1936.)
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“The next thing to saying a good thing yourself, is to quote one.”
This sentence has no known source in Emerson's works, but its general sense does closely match the tenor of Emerson's essay "Quotation and Originality", in particular the sentence "Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it." (listed above). Gow, Foundations for Human Engineering (1931) contains the following passage: "I have the backing of Emerson, for it was he, I believe, who said that the next thing to saying a good thing yourself, if to quote one". It is not clear whether Gow is purporting to quote Emerson verbatim , or merely to paraphrase his work. (Disputed.)
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“In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must each day surmount to fear.”
There are ongoing disputes on who should receive credit for this quote. The earliest match that could be found was in an article published by Los Angeles Times in 1936, which attributed the quote to Elbert Hubbard , but the evidence was weak as he died in 1915. In the following years, Dale Carnegie 's books and articles confusingly credited the saying to Hubbard, Napoleon Bonaparte , and Emerson; however, Carnegie did not present any supporting citations. Therefore, the originator of the quote remains unknown. Quote Origin: Fear Defeats More People than Any Other One Thing in the World by Quote Investigator (Disputed.)