Essays and Lectures. Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Essays and Lectures
Ralph Waldo Emerson
New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1803. 1882. 2983.

Why read it? Because Emerson will make you think. He writes in sentences, each sentence suggestive, freighted with ideas. His sentences are like the stone skipping across the pool—each idea leading to other ideas in never-ending concentric circles. He writes in prose but his images create poetry. His ideas might belong to his system of thought—the Over-Soul, or we are all a part of God; Nature, another manifestation of God; and man’s possessing all knowledge within himself—but the ideas spread to many topics unrelated to Emerson’s particular ideas. When you read Emerson, be ready to think and to reflect for surprisingly long periods.

Some sample sentences from Emerson’s essays and lectures: “The law is only a memorandum.” “…the form and method of governing, which are proper to each nation, and to its habit of thought, and nowise transferable to other states of society.” “Every man’s nature is a sufficient advertisement to him of the character of his fellows.” “Each of the speakers expresses himself imperfectly; no one of them hears much that another says, such is the preoccupation of the mind of each….” “The end and the means…each denies and tends to abolish the other.” “Great men…clear our eyes from egotism, and enable us to see other people and their works.” “Great men exist that there may be greater men.”

“…we are students of words: we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words and do not know a thing.” “The criticism and attack on institutions which we have witnessed, has made one thing plain, that society gains nothing whilst a man, not himself renovated, attempts to renovate things around him. He has become tediously good in some particular, but negligent or narrow in the rest; hypocrisy and vanity are often the disgusting result.” "Men do not believe in the power of education.” “…society is a a hospital of incurables.” “Knowledge gave the scholar certain powers of expression, the power of speech, the power of poetry, of literary art, but it did not bring him to peace, or to beneficence.” “…that is ever the difference between the wise and the unwise: the latter wonders at what is unusual, the wise man wonders at the usual.”

“Whatever limits us we call fate.” “Insight is not will.” “Relation and connection are everywhere.” “Chaos can be converted into a wholesome force.” “Appreciate your defects and be terrified of your talents.” “Person makes event, and event person.” “Successful people believe in cause and effect, not luck.” “Success is the result of positive power.” “Concentration is the secret of strength in all human affairs.” “People who can bring to bear all that they know in an instant when needed….” “Mr. Profitloss.” “When people are first introduced to a company, everyone wants to know what they do for a living.” “The basis for the economy is non-interference.” “Books are good only when people are ready for them.”

“Manners can’t be legislated.” “People converse more with their eyes than with their tongues.” “Hiding uncomfortable feelings is essential.” “The basis of good manners is self-reliance.” "Nothing is more vulgar than haste.” “People take the measure of everyone they meet every time they meet.” “Superior people are direct.” “Only negative rules govern culture.” “Misfortune is a learning experience and leads to prosperity.” “Vigor is contagious.” “Blockheads make blockheads of their companions.” “It is a mistake to give joy to the circumstance.” “Whatever is in the heart will reach the lips.” “What we know is a point to what we don’t know.” “The deep sleep of human faculties coincides with abundance of the means of learning.” “Reformers miss out on one truth of humanity which scorns system and system-makers." “Philosophical speculation that leads to no practical end is futile.” “The source of tragedy in humanity is belief in an impersonal force that is heedless whether it serves or crushes humanity.”

Quote: "All are teachers and pupils in turn."