Authors
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803 – 1882
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist and poet who encouraged people to trust their own minds and think for themselves. He began his career as a Unitarian minister before leaving the pulpit to become a full-time writer and lecturer. He was a leading voice of a movement called Transcendentalism, which valued nature, individuality, and self-reliance, and his 1841 essay "Self-Reliance" became one of the most influential essays in American literature. His writing inspired generations of thinkers, including his close friend Henry David Thoreau.
Quotes
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
“We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.”
“The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.”
“Hitch your wagon to a star.”
“Knowledge is the antidote to fear.”
“Every genuine work of art has as much reason for being as the earth and the sun.”
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”