Ralph Waldo Emerson's best quotes (with their source)
The top 3 according to 218 votes from people: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. · I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all. · Here once the embattled farmers stood, / And fired the shot heard round the world.. (Updated Sep 26, 2021.)
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds", the "transparent eye-ball" of Nature and "the shot heard round the world": the most quoted lines of Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essays, lectures, poems and journals, each with its source.
Top 18
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1
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
"Self-Reliance" (1841).
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2
I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all.
Nature (1836).
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3
Here once the embattled farmers stood, / And fired the shot heard round the world.
"Concord Hymn" (1837).
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4
The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.
Divinity School Address (1838).
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5
Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.
Letters and Social Aims (1876), "Social Aims".
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6
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Journals, 8 November 1838.
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7
All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle.
The Conduct of Life (1860), "Illusions".
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8
Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.
Nature (1836), "Language".
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9
I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.
Journals, May 1849.
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10
If eyes were made for seeing, / Then beauty is its own excuse for being.
"The Rhodora" (1847).
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11
Life is our dictionary.
"The American Scholar" (1837), par. 29.
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12
We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.
"The American Scholar" (1837), par. 43.
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13
To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.
Journals, 20 December 1822.
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14
Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis.
Journals, 1836.
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15
Things are in the saddle, / And ride mankind.
"Ode, Inscribed to W. H. Channing" (1847).
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16
Money often costs too much.
The Conduct of Life (1860), "Wealth".
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17
Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests and mines and stone-quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.
Letters and Social Aims (1876), "Quotation and Originality".
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18
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.
The Conduct of Life (1860), "Worship".
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Comments (1)
"I hate quotation. Tell me what you know." on a list of his quotations. He would have hated this page and I love it.