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Man Thinking must not be subdued by his instruments. Books are for the scholar's idle times. When he can read God directly, the hour is too precious to be wasted in other men's transcripts of their readings.

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
Men
Hour
Readings
Thinking
Books
Subdued
Hours
Wasted
Reading
Scholar
Read
Idle
Times
Directly
Book
Precious
Must
Instruments

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In the country, without any interference from the law, the agricultural life favors the permanence of families.
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Is all literature eavesdropping, and all art Chinese imitation? our life a custom, and our body borrowed, like a beggar’s dinner, from a hundred charities?
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I find nothing in fables more astonishing than my experience in every hour. One moment of a man's life is a fact so stupendous as to take the luster out of fiction.
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Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.
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Nature is reckless of the individual. When she has points to carry, she carries them.
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If with love thy heart has burned If thy love is unreturned Hide thy grief within thy breast, Though it tear thee unexpressed.
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The poet knows that he speaks adequately, then, only when he speaks somewhat wildly.
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What torments of grief you endured, from evils that never arrived
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Nature never rhymes her children, nor makes two men alike. When we see a great man, we fancy a resemblance to some historical person, and predict the sequel of his character and fortune, a result which he is sure to disappoint. None will ever solve the problem of his character according to our prejudice, but only in his high unprecedented way.
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Isolation must precede true society.
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There are moods in which we court suffering, in the hope that here, at least, we shall find reality, sharp peaks and edges of truth. But it turns out to be scene-painting and counterfeit. The only thing grief has taught me is to know how shallow it is.
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The finest poetry was first experience.
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Tis weak and vicious people who cast the blame on Fate. The right use of Fate is to bring up our conduct to the loftiness of nature.
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Every man believes he has a greater possibility.
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From Washington, proverbially the city of distances, through all its cities, states, and territories, it is a country of beginnings, of projects, of designs, and expectations.
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Perhaps love is only the highest symbol of friendship, as all other things seem symbols of love.
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A cheerful intelligent face is the end of culture, and success enough. For it indicates the purpose of Nature and wisdom attained.
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To a physician, each man, each woman, is an amplification of one organ.
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The greatest meliorator of the world is selfish, huckstering Trade.
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If a man carefully examine his thoughts he will be surprised to find how much he lives in the future. His well-being is always ahead. Such a creature is probably immortal.
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