Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. Transcendentalism • Emerson would start out as a Unitarian minister, but would soon move away from it, as he could no longer teach in good conscience many of the things believed by ordinary Christians.

3. Biography • Standing by Emerson’s grave Walt Whitman noted: A just man, poised on himself, all-loving, all-inclosing, and sane and clear as the sun.”

4. Emerson’s Essays: History • “The student is to read history actively and not passively; to esteem his own life the text, and books the commentary. He should see that he can live all history in his own person.”

5. Emerson’s Essays: Compensation • “But for every benefit which you receive, a tax is levied. He is great who confers the most benefits. He is base to receive favors and render none.”

6. Emerson’s Essays: Friendship • “Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person hypocrisy begins. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.”

7. Emerson’s Essays: Heroism • “The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough.”

8. Emerson’s Essays: The Over-Soul • “The philosophy of six thousand years has not searched the chambers and magazines of the soul. Man is a stream whose source is hidden.”

9. Emerson’s Essays: Self-Reliance • “We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents.”

10. Emerson’s Essays: Self-Reliance • No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions.”

11. Emerson’s Essays: Self-Reliance • “We must go alone. I like the silent church before the service begins better than any preaching.”