Secrets of the Mind: Ralph Waldo Emerson's Keys to Expansive Mental Powers

by Sam Torode

Everything we perceive comes through the mind, but we cannot perceive the mind itself.

The ancestor of every act is a thought.

The goal is not to eliminate your emotions, which are a rich and vital aspect of life, but to avoid being blinded and controlled by them.

Cherish your intuitions, for one day they may ripen into truths.

Be curious about the ways others live and think, including—or especially—those with little formal schooling. Your curiosity will be rewarded.

The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n. —John Milton, English poet

What is your life, but what you think about all day? This is your occupation and your fate. “You are what you know,” the Latin proverb says.

Amaxing thoughts in this chapter.