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Let him be great, and love shall follow him. Nothing is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities by which alone society should be formed, and the insane levity of choosing associates by others eyes.

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
Others
Insane
Affinities
Nothing
Deeply
Levity
Great
Follow
Affinity
Love
Shall
Punished
Alone
Associates
Eyes
Choosing
Society
Formed
Eye
Neglect

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But a public oration is an escapade, a non-committal, an apology, a gag, and not a communication, not a speech, not a man.
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Everything has its price - and if that price is not paid, not that thing but something else is obtained... it is impossible to get anything without this price.
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The history of reform is always identical it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.
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An empire is an immense egotism.
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You are constantly invited to be what you are.
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A man must be clothed with society, or we shall feel a certain bareness and poverty, as of a displaced and unfurnished member. He is to be dressed in arts and institutions, as well as in body garments. Now and then a man exquisitely made can live alone, and must but coop up most men and you undo them.
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Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.
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To me, however, the question of the times resolved itself into a practical question of the conduct of life. How shall I live? We are incompetent to solve the times. Our geometry cannot span the huge orbits of the prevailing ideas, behold their return, and reconcile their opposition. We can only obey our own polarity.
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Let us stun and astonish the intruding rabble of men and books and institutions by a simple declaration of the divine fact. Bid the invaders take the shoes from off their feet, for God is here within.
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What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.
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A great man stands on God. A small man on a great man.
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There is a tendency for things to right themselves.
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Nature forever puts a premium on reality. What is done for effect is seen to be done for effect what is done for love is felt to be done for love. A man inspires affection and honor because he was not lying in wait for these.
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A good symbol is the best argument, and is a missionary to persuade thousands.
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If you would serve your brother it is fit for you to serve him, do not take back your words when you find that prudent people do not commend you. Be true to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age.
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One man pins me to the wall, while with another I walk among the stars
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Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about.
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Genius is the power to labor better and more availably. Deserve thy genius: exalt it.
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The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society.
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