“I am more of a Quaker than anything else. I believe in the”
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche…
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culture · American philosopher (1803–1882) · philosopher · poet · writer · essayist · diarist · biographer · Unitarian pastor · Christian minister · orator · abolitionist · also Ralph Waldo Emerson, Waldo Emerson, R. W. Emerson, Emerson
Born 25 May 1803 · Died 27 April 1882 · Q48226
67 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 7 entries
“No ingenious sophistry can ever reconcile the unperverted mind to the pardon of Slavery; nothing but tremendous familiarity, and the bias of private interest”
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The Economic Times: Quote of the day by Ralph Waldo Emerson: 'It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to
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moneycontrol.com: Quote of the day by philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson: "To be yourself in a world that is constantly..."
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U.S. News & World Report: Ralph Waldo Emerson School 58
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Mint: Quote of the day by Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be…’
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The New York Times: Ralph Waldo Emerson
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2022· 1 entry
Yahoo Finance: Announcing 217 Films' New Documentary 'Ralph Waldo Emerson: Give All to Love'
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1976· 1 entry
The Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize is awarded annually by The Concord Review to high school students for essays on historical subjects
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1887· 1 entry
“must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner; must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly.”
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1882· 18 entries
Died 1882-04-27.
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Emerson was found to be suffering from pneumonia
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“It is one of the most beautiful compensations in this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”
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“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. (ang.)”
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“They are conservatives after dinner (…) (ang.)”
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“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered.”
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“Money often costs too much. (ang.)”
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“Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. (ang.)”
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“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first. (ang.)”
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“Tak więc poleganie na Własności, obejmujące również poleganie na rządach, które jej strzegą, jest brakiem polegania na samym sobie.”
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“Ludzie tak długo odwracali się od siebie, patrząc na rzeczy, że zaczęli szanować instytucje religijne, naukowe i państwowe jako strażników własności i potępiają ataki na nie, bo czują, że są to ataki na własność. Szacunek wobec drugiego człowieka mierzą tym, co on ma, a nie tym, czym jest; z szacunku do swej natury człowiek wzniosłego ducha wstydzi się swojej własności.”
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“Człowiek wówczas jest spokojny i wesoły, gdy w swoją pracę wkłada serce i stara się ze wszystkich sił.”
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“Mam nadzieję, że teraz nadszedł kres konformizmu i ugodowości. (…) Nigdy się nie kłaniajmy i więcej się nie usprawiedliwiajmy. (…) Napiętnujmy gładką przeciętność i brudne zadowolenie naszych czasów i stawmy im czoła.”
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“Wierzyć swej własnej myśli; wierzyć, że to, co w głębi Twego serca prawdziwe jest dla ciebie, jest prawdziwe dla wszystkich ludzi – to jest geniusz.”
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“W kształtowaniu się każdego człowieka przychodzi czas, gdy nabiera on przekonania, że zazdrość jest ignorancją, a naśladownictwo samobójstwem (…)”
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“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
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“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship. It is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him”
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“Cztery korzenie wszystkich rzeczy: ogień, powietrze, woda i ziemia.”
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1872· 1 entry
Along with his daughter Ellen, while his wife Lidian spent time at the Old Manse and with friends
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1867· 3 entries
Was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society
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“Historic Notes of Life and Letters in New England”
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Emerson's health began declining; he wrote much less in his journals
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1865· 1 entry
Spoke at a memorial service held for Lincoln in Concord: "Old as history is, and manifold as are its tragedies, I doubt if any death has caused so much pain as this has caused, or will have caused, on its announcement
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1864· 1 entry
“in a pomp of sunshine and verdure”
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1862· 2 entries
Emerson's protégé Henry David Thoreau died of tuberculosis at the age of 44
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And declared, "The South calls slavery an institution
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1860· 2 entries
But was disappointed that Lincoln was more concerned about preserving the Union than eliminating slavery outright
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Emerson published The Conduct of Life, his seventh collection of essays
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1858· 1 entry
Traveling by train, steamboat, stagecoach, and canoe guide boats
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1855· 1 entry
And sent a copy to Emerson for his opinion
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1851· 1 entry
Emerson denounced the Fugitive Slave Act:
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1849· 2 entries
Originally thought he had "a defect in the region of the heart" and a "self-conceit so intensely intellectual that at first one hesitates to call it by its right name", though he later admitted Emerson was "a great man"
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After Thoreau published A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
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1845· 1 entry
Emerson's journals show he was reading the Bhagavad Gita and Henry Thomas Colebrooke's Essays on the Vedas
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1844· 1 entry
Emerson published his second collection of essays, Essays: Second Series
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1841· 1 entry
Emerson published Essays, his second book, which included the famous essay "Self-Reliance"
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1838· 1 entry
Emerson was invited to Divinity Hall, Harvard Divinity School, to deliver the school's graduation address, which came to be known as the "Divinity School Address"
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1837· 5 entries
Women attended a meeting of the Transcendental Club for the first time
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Delivered his now-famous Phi Beta Kappa address, "The American Scholar," then entitled "An Oration, Delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge"; it was renamed for a collection of essays (which included
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Was on this occasion both read and sung as a hymn by a local choir, using the then-familiar tune "Old Hundredth"
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Was called America's "intellectual Declaration of Independence" by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr
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Emerson befriended Henry David Thoreau
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1836· 1 entry
The day before the publication of Nature, Emerson met with Frederic Henry Hedge, George Putnam, and George Ripley to plan periodic gatherings of other like-minded intellectuals
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1835· 2 entries
Emerson wrote a letter to Lydia Jackson proposing marriage
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Titled "Permanent Traits of the English National Genius", he said, "The inhabitants of the United States, especially of the Northern portion, are descended from the people of England and have inherited the traits of thei
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1834· 2 entries
Apparently from long-standing tuberculosis
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Considered that he had an income of $1,200 a year from the initial payment of the estate, equivalent to what he had earned as a pastor
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1833· 3 entries
Made the first of what would eventually be some 1,500 lectures, "The Uses of Natural History," in Boston
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And lived with his mother in Newton, Massachusetts
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And later wrote of his travels in English Traits (1856)
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1831· 1 entry
At age 20, after uttering her last words, "I have not forgotten the peace and joy
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1826· 1 entry
Faced with poor health, Emerson left Massachusetts to seek a warmer climate
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1822· 2 entries
“I saw ten, twenty, a hundred large lipped, lowbrowed black men in the streets who, except in the mere matter of language, did not exceed the sagacity of the elephant. Now is it true that these were created superior to this wise animal, and designed to control it? And in comparison with the highest orders of men, the Africans will stand so low as to make the difference which subsists between themselves & the sagacious beasts inconsiderable.”
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Emerson wrote about a personal observation: "I saw ten, twenty, a hundred large lipped, lowbrowed black men in the streets who, except in the mere matter of language, did not exceed the sagacity of the elephant
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1811· 1 entry
Less than two weeks before young Ralph's eighth birthday
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1808· 1 entry
Died in 1836, also of tuberculosis, making him the third young person in Emerson's innermost circle to die in a period of a few years
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1803· 1 entry
Born 1803-05-25.
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