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

by Sam Torode

If you could meet Shakespeare, you’d be struck more by your shared humanity than any difference. You might think, “Here’s a person with unusual abilities of expression,” but you wouldn’t feel inferior in his presence. If anything, his wit and eloquence would serve to bring out your own.

Air and water are essential; but if a person takes in too much of either, they’ll become sick and may even die. Thoughts are essential, too. But if a person latches onto one thought to the neglect of others, even truth becomes distorted into falsehood.

An idea can be a portal or a prison. How wearisome are the religious fanatics, political ideologues, and intellectual zealots who think their one idea explains everything!

Knowledge is true power. Those who know are calm and secure, with no need to put on a show to hide their ignorance.

Don’t look to the average person and assume that most of us are born to be mediocre; look to the best and aspire to be like them. You are no less human than they.

Our minds crave good thoughts as our bodies crave good food.

Don’t approach conversation as a competition, by trying to score points and win an argument, but with curiosity. What will you draw out of the other? And what will they draw out of you? Sometimes, your own words can surprise you.

Avoid the ephemeral—sensational news, tawdry novels, and mawkish poetry. It’s far better to read encyclopedias and scientific books instead. Plain facts, if accurately and well presented, nourish the imagination more than many stories and rhymes. Each piece of new knowledge is kindling for inspiration.

A dollar is worth far more in a place

where the people are educated, industrious, and virtuous, than in a den of despair, corruption, and crime.

Instead of ruminating on problems, search for solutions. What’s positive? What’s promising? What’s progressing? Don’t waste your energy complaining about the bad—instead, sing the beauty of the good. And remember, the best thing of all is love.

The world always makes room for a positive, passionate leader.