Ralph Waldo Emerson
American essayist and lecturer (1803 to 1882); began his career as a Unitarian minister in Boston; author of essays including Self-Reliance, History, The Over-Soul and Fate.
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What they believe
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Another soul can provoke me but not instruct me; I must find what it says true in myself or reject it
Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing.
gutenberg.orgSaid 15 Jul 1838This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 8 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
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Another soul can provoke me but not instruct me; I must find what it says true in myself or reject it
Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 15 Jul 1838
Historical Christianity dwells with harmful exaggeration on the person of Jesus; the soul knows no persons
It has dwelt, it dwells, with noxious exaggeration about the person of Jesus. The soul knows no persons.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 15 Jul 1838
Imitation cannot rise above its model and condemns the imitator to mediocrity
Imitation cannot go above its model. The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 15 Jul 1838
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Books are the best of things when used well, and among the worst when abused
Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 31 Aug 1837
Young scholars wrongly defer to the views of great authors, forgetting those authors were once young men in libraries too
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.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 31 Aug 1837
Action is subordinate for a scholar but essential; without it thought cannot ripen into truth
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.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 31 Aug 1837
Character is higher than intellect
Character is higher than intellect.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 31 Aug 1837
Americans have listened too long to European culture, and the American spirit is suspected of being timid and imitative
We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe. The spirit of the American freeman is already suspected to be timid, imitative, tame.
Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856) Said 31 Aug 1837
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