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If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Ralph Waldo Emerson
Age: 78 †
Born: 1803
Born: May 25
Died: 1882
Died: April 27
Biographer
Diarist
Essayist
Philosopher
Poet
Writer
Boston
Massachusetts
R. W. Emerson
Waldo Emerson
Inspirational
Intuition
Earth
Round
Character
Rounds
Come
Instinct
Men
Plant
World
Personality
Single
Abide
Huge
Instincts

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I have heard that stiff people lose something of their awkwardness under high ceilings, and in spacious halls. I think, sculptureand painting have an effect to teach us manners, and abolish hurry.
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There is genius as well in virtue as in intellect. 'Tis the doctrine of faith over works.
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Our life seems not present, so much as prospective not for the affairs on which it is wasted, but as a hint of this vast- flowingvigor.
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I wish to speak with all respect of persons, but sometimes I must pinch myself to keep awake, and preserve the due decorum. They melt so fast into each other, that they are like grass and trees, and it needs an effort to treat them as individuals.
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Personal rights, universally the same, demand a government framed on the ratio of the census: property demands a government framedon the ratio of owners and of owning.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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The highest proof of civility is that the whole public action of the State is directed on securing the greatest good of the greatest number.
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Life is in short cycles or periods we are quickly tired, but we have rapid rallies. A man is spent by his work, starved, prostrate he will not lift his hand to save his life he can never think more. He sinks into deep sleep and wakes with renewed youth, with hope, courage, fertile in resources, and keen for daring adventure.
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The way to mend the bad world is to create the right world.
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I grieve that grief can teach me nothing, nor carry me one step into real nature.
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Among provocative, the next best thing to good preaching is bad preaching.
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He in whom the love of truth predominates . . . submits to the inconvenience of suspense and imperfect opinion but he is a candidate for truth . . . and respects the highest law of his being.
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The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough.
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Noblesse oblige or, superior advantages bind you to larger generosity.
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To give money to a sufferer is only a come-off. It is only a postponement of the real payment, a bribe paid for silence, a creditsystem in which a paper promise to pay answers for the time instead of liquidation. We owe to man higher succors than food and fire. We owe to man.
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The best political economy is the care and culture of men for, in these crises, all are ruined except such as are proper individuals, capable of thought, and of new choice and the application of their talent to new labor.
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Every man's task [his 'great dream' and impassioned life-goal] is his life preserver.
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Wise men are not wise at all hours, and will speak five times from their taste or their humor, to once from their reason.
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The soul refuses limits and always affirms an optimism, never a pessimism.
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Art, in the artist, is proportion, or, a habitual respect to the whole by an eye loving beauty in details. And the wonder and charm of it is the sanity in insanity which it denotes.
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I am primarily engaged to myself to be a public servant of all the gods, to demonstrate to all men that there is intelligence andgood will at the heart of all things, and even higher and yet higher leadings. These are my engagements how can your law further or hinder me in what I shall do to men?
Ralph Waldo Emerson