The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume 1Macmillan, 1884 - American literature |
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Page xxii
... questions mainly theological , from more liberal points of view than was at that time common , ' the air then in America getting a little too close and stagnant . ' The Club was first formed in 1836. The Dial appeared in 1840 , and went ...
... questions mainly theological , from more liberal points of view than was at that time common , ' the air then in America getting a little too close and stagnant . ' The Club was first formed in 1836. The Dial appeared in 1840 , and went ...
Page xxviii
... question here : the idea - that is the chief question . ' We do not profess to be of those to whom mere style is as dear as it was to Plutarch ; of him it was said that he would have made Pompey win the battle of Pharsalia , if it could ...
... question here : the idea - that is the chief question . ' We do not profess to be of those to whom mere style is as dear as it was to Plutarch ; of him it was said that he would have made Pompey win the battle of Pharsalia , if it could ...
Page 1
... questions to ask which are unanswerable . We must trust the perfection of the creation so far , as to believe that whatever curi- osity the order of things has awakened in our minds , the order of things can satisfy . Every man's ...
... questions to ask which are unanswerable . We must trust the perfection of the creation so far , as to believe that whatever curi- osity the order of things has awakened in our minds , the order of things can satisfy . Every man's ...
Page 26
... question , whether the characters are not significant of themselves . Have mountains , and waves , and skies , no significance but what we con- sciously give them , when we employ them as emblems of our thoughts ? The world is ...
... question , whether the characters are not significant of themselves . Have mountains , and waves , and skies , no significance but what we con- sciously give them , when we employ them as emblems of our thoughts ? The world is ...
Page 39
... question of the absolute existence of nature still remains open . It is the uniform effect of culture on the human mind , not to shake our faith in the stability of particular phenomena , as of heat , water , azote ; but to lead us to ...
... question of the absolute existence of nature still remains open . It is the uniform effect of culture on the human mind , not to shake our faith in the stability of particular phenomena , as of heat , water , azote ; but to lead us to ...
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Common terms and phrases
abstrac action ALFRED AINGER American appear astronomy beauty become behold better born Carlyle character church conservatism divine doctrine earth Emerson eternal exist fact faculties faith feel genius give Goethe heart heaven honour hope hour human idea infinite inspiration intellect JOHN MORLEY labour land LESLIE STEPHEN light live look manner manual labour means ment mind moral morning nature never noble objects perfect persons philosophy plant Plato Plotinus Plutarch poet poetry R. W. CHURCH RALPH WALDO EMERSON reason reform relation religion rich scholar seems sense sentiment society solitude soul speak spirit stand stars sublime things thou thought tion to-day trade Transcendental Transcendentalist true truth universal Uranus virtue Walden Pond whilst whole wisdom wise wish words
Popular passages
Page 46 - The charm dissolves apace ; And as the morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness, so their rising senses Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle Their clearer reason.
Page 18 - When the bark of Columbus nears the shore of America; — before it, the beach lined with savages, fleeing out of all their huts of cane; the sea behind; and the purple mountains of the Indian Archipelago around, can we separate the man from the living picture?
Page 74 - They are for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system.
Page 91 - I ask not for the great, the remote, the romantic ; what is doing in Italy or Arabia; what is Greek art, or Provencal minstrelsy ; I embrace the common, I explore and sit at the feet of the "familiar, the low.
Page 68 - Our day of dependence, our long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands, draws to a close. The millions that around us are rushing into life cannot always be fed on the sere remains of foreign harvests. Events, actions arise, that must be sung, that will sing themselves.
Page 225 - ... according as that good man frequents the house. He entertains him, gives him gifts, feasts him, lodges him; his religion comes home at night, prays, is liberally supped, and sumptuously laid to sleep, rises, is saluted, and after the malmsey, or some...
Page 80 - If it were only for a vocabulary, the scholar would be covetous of action. Life is our dictionary. Years are well spent in country labors; in town, — in the insight into trades and manufactures ; in frank intercourse with many men and women ; in science ; in art; to the one end of mastering in all their facts a language by which to illustrate and embody our perceptions. I learn immediately from any speaker how much he has already lived, through the poverty or the splendor of his speech.
Page 76 - There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion. Every sentence is doubly significant, and the sense of our author is as broad as the world.
Page 23 - Man is conscious of a universal soul within or behind his individual life, wherein, as in a firmament, the natures of Justice, Truth, Love, Freedom, arise and shine.
Page 36 - All things with which we deal, preach to us. What is a farm but a mute gospel ? The chaff and the wheat, weeds and plants, blight, rain, insects, sun, — it is a sacred emblem from the first furrow of spring to the last stack which the snow of winter overtakes in the fields.