Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes About Inspiration

• To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Positive, Beauty

• Always do what you are afraid to do.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Education, Peace

  'Essays' (1841) 'Heroism'

• The only way to have a friend is to be one.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Friendship, True Friend

  Essays "Friendship" (1841)

• It is not length of life, but depth of life.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Life, Birthday

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2010). “Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume VIII: Letters and Social Aims”, p.191, Harvard University Press

• Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Essays "Circles" (1841)

• Self-trust is the first secret of success.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Motivational, Success, Trust

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1971). “The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Society and solitude”, p.148, Harvard University Press

• The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Friendship, Family, Trust

• Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Leadership, Hope

• We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2010). “The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1871”, p.340, University of Georgia Press

• We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

• To be great is to be misunderstood.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Success, Inspiration, Greatness

  Essays "Self-Reliance" (1841)

• The world belongs to the energetic.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Motivational, Work

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1875). “Letters and Social Aims”, p.123

• Hitch your wagon to a star.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Quoted in Moncare D. Conway, The Golden Hour (1862)

• As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Dream, Greatness

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bliss Perry (1926). “The Heart of Emerson's Journals”, p.189, Courier Corporation

• The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Funny, Friendship, Prayer

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1870). “Culture, Behavior, Beauty: Books, Art Eloquence. Power, Wealth, Illusions”

• The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Positive, Inspiration, Opportunity

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2010). “The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1871”, p.340, University of Georgia Press

• It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspiration, Passion, Writing

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1972). “Early Lectures: 1838-1842”, p.58, Harvard University Press

• Books are for nothing but to inspire

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Book, Inspiration, Inspire

  "The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson".

• You cannot do a kindness too soon.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Karma, Thankful, Appreciation

• Character is an invincible force, which acts by presence and without means

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspiration, Character, Mean

• Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Friendship, Inspiration, Solitude

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Barbara L. Packer, Joseph Slater, Douglas Emory Wilson (2003). “The Conduct of Life”, p.83, Harvard University Press

• Every really able man, in whatever direction he works - a man of large affairs, an inventor, a statesman, an orator, a poet, a painter - if you talk sincerely with him, considers his work, however much admired, as far short of what it should be. What is this Better, this flying Ideal, but the perpetual promise of his Creator?

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspiration, Creativity, Men

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1870). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.339, Рипол Классик

• Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspiration, Giving, Ridiculous

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1070, Delphi Classics

• The world still wants its poet-priest, a reconciler, who shall not trifle with Shakspeare the player, nor shall grope in graves with Swedenborg the mourner; but who shall see, speak, and act, with equal inspiration. For knowledge will brighten the sunshine; right is more beautiful than private affection; and love is compatible with universal wisdom.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Beautiful, Inspiration, Sunshine

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1850). “Representative Men: Seven Lectures”, p.162

• As thinkers, mankind has ever divided into two sects, Materialists and Idealists; the first class founding on experience, the second on consciousness; the first class beginning to think from the data of the senses, the second class perceive that the senses are not final and say, The senses give us representations of things, but what are the things themselves, they cannot tell. The materialist insists on facts, on history, on the force of circumstances and the animal wants of man; the idealists on the power of Thought and Will, on inspiration, on miracle, on individual culture.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspiration, Men, Thinking

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.4265, Delphi Classics

You May Also Like:

Henry David Thoreau

Walt Whitman

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Margaret Fuller

Emily Dickinson

Edgar Allan Poe

Herman Melville