American Scholar Quotes

• Character is higher than intellect... A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Strength, Success

  "The American Scholar". Ralph Waldo Emerson's Oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, emersoncentral.com. August 31, 1837.

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• Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Growing Up, Believe, Book

  The American Scholar sec. 2 (1837)

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• I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Reading, Book, Learning

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• We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds... A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Believe, Men, Hands

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.4249, Delphi Classics

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• Fear always springs from ignorance.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Spiritual, Fear, Spring

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Ernest Spiller, Alfred Riggs Ferguson, Joseph Slater, Jean Ferguson Carr (1971). “The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature, addresses, and lectures”, p.64, Harvard University Press

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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

  Book, Reading, Men

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.66, Penguin

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• The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Soul, World

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.57, Library of America

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• Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it, he is not yet man. Without it, thought can never ripen into truth.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Essentials, Action

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2009). “The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.49, Modern Library

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• This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Time, Frustrated, Vision

  1837 'The American Scholar', lecture at Harvard University.

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• It is one light which beams out of a thousand stars. It is one soul which animates all men.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Stars, Men, Light

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1851). “Essays, lectures and orations”, p.502

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• Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst...They are for nothing but to inspire.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Book, Inspire, Used

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Howell Foster (1939). “Emerson's theory of poetry”

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• There is creative reading as well as creative writing.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Education, Reading, Writing

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alfred R. Ferguson (1965). “Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume V: 1835-1838”, p.233, Harvard University Press

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• The office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Education, Cheer, Teaching

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1866). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Comprising His Essays, Lectures, Poems, and Orations”, p.182

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• And, in fine, the ancient precept, "Know thyself," and the modern precept, "Study nature," become at last one maxim.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Knowledge, Science, Self

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1850). “Nature: Addresses, and Lectures”, p.83

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• He then learns that in going down into the secrets of his own mind, he has descended into the secrets of all minds.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Learning, Secret, Mind

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Emerson's Essays: Top Essays”, p.20, 谷月社

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• Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Birthday, Book, Writing

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.65, Penguin

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• Meek young men grow up in libraries.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Growing Up, Men, Library

  The American Scholar sec. 2 (1837)

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• It is one soul which animates all men.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Soul, Beams Of Light

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1851). “Essays, lectures and orations”, p.502

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• Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Greatness, Mind, Simple Life

  Friedrich Nietzsche, Graham Parkes (2008). “Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and Nobody”, p.21, Oxford University Press

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• If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Being Yourself, Character

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1851). “Essays, lectures and orations”, p.505

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• The world is nothing, the man is all; in yourself is the law of all nature, and you know not yet how a globule of sap ascends; in yourself slumbers the whole of Reason; it is for you to know all, it is for you to dare all.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Law, Sap

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Ernest Spiller, Alfred Riggs Ferguson, Joseph Slater, Jean Ferguson Carr (1971). “The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature, addresses, and lectures”, p.69, Harvard University Press

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• The world is his who can see through its pretension.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  World, Deafness, Pretension

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.71, Penguin

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• Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Time, Future, Giving

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1113, Delphi Classics

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• Of course, he who has put forth his total strength in fit actions, has the richest return of wisdom.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Return, Action, Fit

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Emerson's Essays: Top Essays”, p.17, 谷月社

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• The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class - it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.

  Anna Julia Cooper

  Inspiring, Freedom, Party

  Anna Julia Cooper, Charles C. Lemert, Esme Bhan (1998). “The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper: Including A Voice from the South and Other Important Essays, Papers, and Letters”, p.106, Rowman & Littlefield

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