21 verified quotes from 9 works, 1836 to 1844.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American essayist and lecturer, the central figure of the Transcendentalist circle in Concord, Massachusetts, and a friend and early supporter of Thoreau. His first book, Nature (1836), was followed by two series of Essays (1841 and 1844).
The quotes below come from Nature and from essays such as Self-Reliance, Friendship, Compensation and Experience. Each was matched word for word in the full text of the public-domain edition we link.
What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.
Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; …
Our note: Emerson describes feeling at one with nature on a walk, in his first book.
Verified in the full text of Nature on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #29433
Painted the same decade: Hagar in the Wilderness, Camille Corot, 1835
In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child.
Our note: From the first chapter of "Nature."
Verified in the full text of Nature on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #29433
Painted the same decade: Mother and Child by the Sea, Johan Christian Dahl, 1830
To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.
Our note: From the chapter "Beauty" in "Nature."
Verified in the full text of Nature on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #29433
Painted the same decade: Parochialstrasse in Berlin, Eduard Gaertner, 1831
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. The way of life is wonderful; it is by abandonment.
Our note: The closing lines of the essay "Circles."
Verified in the full text of Circles on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
…every thing you have missed, you have gained something else; and for every thing you gain, you lose something.
Our note: Emerson's idea that every gain and loss is balanced.
Verified in the full text of Compensation on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.
Our note: From Emerson's essay "Friendship."
Verified in the full text of Friendship on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
…the only way to have a friend is to be one.
Our note: From Emerson's essay "Friendship."
Verified in the full text of Friendship on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Self-trust is the essence of heroism. It is the state of the soul at war, and its ultimate objects are the last defiance of falsehood and wrong, …
Our note: From the essay "Heroism."
Verified in the full text of Heroism on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
There is one mind common to all individual men.
Our note: The opening line of the essay "History."
Verified in the full text of History on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,—that is genius.
Our note: The opening argument of Emerson's essay on trusting your own mind.
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Our note: Emerson defends changing your mind when you learn something new. Note the word "foolish"; it is often dropped.
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Our note: From "Self-Reliance."
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.
Our note: From "Self-Reliance."
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
Our note: The closing lines of "Self-Reliance."
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
Our note: Emerson answers the fear of being misunderstood.
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; …
Our note: From "Self-Reliance."
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.
Our note: From "Self-Reliance."
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Our note: From "Self-Reliance."
Verified in the full text of Self-Reliance on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.
Our note: From the essay "Experience."
Verified in the full text of Experience on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2945 · Collected in Essays, Second Series
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them.
Our note: From the essay "Experience."
Verified in the full text of Experience on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2945 · Collected in Essays, Second Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself.
Our note: From the short essay "Gifts."
Verified in the full text of Gifts on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2945 · Collected in Essays, Second Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
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