Everyday Emerson Quotes

“As a society, we’re losing our sense of Divine activity in the world. We no longer recognize the power of Spirit in nature, history, and our daily lives. This has a positive side: Most of us no longer live under the constant dread of God’s wrath and judgment, which haunted our Puritan and Calvinist forbears. They believed the meaning of life was to suffer for others, and so they taught discipline, self-deprivation, and sorrow. While there was a certain majesty in their faith, it’s rightfully fading away. What will replace the old-time religion? I say: Let us bask in the morning sun that rises from the East, and be children of the light. Let us worship the mighty, transcendent soul.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“spent much of the next two years cowriting and editing her biography.  Emerson was a signatory of the “Declaration of Sentiments” of the first Women’s Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. And in 1855, he attended and addressed the convention in Boston.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Emerson generally avoided discussing politics and current controversies; he wanted his lectures and essays to be timeless and universal. But he made an exception when it came to injustices against Native Americans and African Americans, which were—and are—violations of timeless and universal principles. In 1838, he wrote an impassioned open letter to President Van Buren (published in newspapers in Boston and Washington, DC), protesting the forced removal of the Cherokee people from their lands.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“know exactly what it wants. The one thing it does know is that it feels ill at ease and pinched by society’s conventions. Society ought to cherish this voice of resistance and tolerate its excesses. For there is hope in extravagant feeling and creativity, but there is no hope in lifeless repetition and routine.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Instead of trying to create a new religion from scratch, aim to breathe new life into the forms that already exist. If you are alive, you’ll enliven all you touch. To revive faith from dead tradition, three things are needed: soul, soul, and more soul.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“arts become frivolous. Science grows cold and inhumane. There are no heroes, only celebrities. Social bonds are broken. People no longer care for each other, but only for what they can get from each other.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Inspiring passion and action—this is the test of true preaching. True preaching is practical—concerned with day-to-day living in light of the soul. It’s focus is not on the distant past or an imaginary future, but on the here and now.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Kant insisted that the mind has access to preexisting concepts and ideas, which enable us to process the information gathered by our senses. Kant called these preexisting concepts “transcendental forms.” Through them, we come to knowledge by intuition, even apart from experience.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Transcendentalists believe that our minds are always open to a new inflowing of light and power from the Source. This is called inspiration.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Wonder generates enthusiasm, which is the highest state of character. It’s what makes mere curiosity about nature grow into an all-consuming passion. The history of science is full of examples of enthusiasm. Every schoolchild knows the story of Archimedes, who stepped into his bath and realized that water displacement could be used to measure the volume of any object; he then took off running through the streets like a madman, yelling, “Eureka! I’ve found it!”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Changing our thoughts, Emerson asserts, can actually change our circumstances.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“What’s the use of an admirable form of government if political parties and moneyed interests control it? What’s the use of our judicial system, if judges only quote precedents and ignore first principles? What’s the use of a Supreme Court if it’s swayed by the political winds of the hour?”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Conservatives and Progressives. These two parties, which divide our government—and every other government—have been fighting for control of the world from the very beginning. History is the chronicle of their battles: between nobles and commoners, rulers and rebels, old traditions and new ideas, the rich and the poor. As the world turns, one side gets the upper hand, then the other, and back again. Only the names change.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Pomp and pretense have nothing to do with thought and knowledge. Gowns and diplomas cannot impart the least syllable of wisdom. Forget this, and our American universities will be impoverished even as they amass riches from their students and benefactors.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“we are what we know.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“The Fugitive Slave Law 1851–54”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“The Negroes are our benefactors. They produce coffee, tobacco, cotton, sugar, rum, wine, and brandy—all the luxuries of the civilized world. Yet how are they treated in return? Among”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“I wait for the hour when that divine Beauty, which ravished the hearts of the Hebrew prophets, Hindu and Buddhist visionaries, Christian and Sufi mystics, and Chinese sages, will make itself known in America today.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“the sermon, that most flexible of art forms. Take the form of the sermon and make it your own. Whether you are standing behind a pulpit, in a lecture hall, or in a field, nothing can stop you from speaking the truth according to your life and conscience. The hearts of the people are thirsty for new hope and new revelation.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“The essence of this faith is freedom. Its goal is simply to make us good and wise. Its institutions should be as flexible as the needs of humanity in different times and places.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“wish to love Jesus as a glorified friend, in the free spirit of friendship—not pay him a stiff sign of respect, as people do before someone they fear. How do I think we should commemorate Jesus’ life? By reading his words, imitating his kindness and generosity, and doing anything that awakens our minds and opens our hearts to virtue and love.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“you how to get it yourself, that’s of great benefit.) Our lives are transformed when we come to ourselves—when we awaken to God in ourselves. This is the path that Jesus walked, and bid us to follow. This is the way of salvation.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Jesus spoke of miracles because he saw all of life as miraculous. Miracles appear to us as the eyes of our hearts are opened, and we see clearly. But, as defined by the churches, a miracle is a monstrosity—something contrary to nature, rather than in harmony with it.  Jesus respected Moses and the Hebrew prophets, but didn’t limit himself to repeating their insights. He spoke from the heart, not from a book, and brought forth a new revelation: the divinity of the soul.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Stand firmly rooted in your convictions, and eventually the whole world will come around to you. In 1838, Emerson delivered a lecture to the senior class of Harvard Divinity School. He had been a student there, himself, ten years earlier. Following in his father’s footsteps, Emerson was ordained as junior pastor at Boston’s Second Church in 1829. But just three years later, he resigned his position because he could no longer repeat the prayers and rituals of the past. “To be a good minister,” he wrote in his journal, “I must leave the ministry. The profession is antiquated. We worship the dead forms of our forefathers.”  Emerson sought new insights, new revelations, and new words to express them. The “Divinity School Address” is an invitation for others to join him. It challenged religious orthodoxy, scandalized some in his audience, and was condemned by church leaders—including the college dean. Emerson wasn’t invited back to Harvard for the next thirty years.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Their passion is for the great and extraordinary, and they are repelled by the vulgar and frivolous. Better to be alone than in bad company, they say. Often their best friends are books, works of art, or favorite spots in the woods. They’re suspicious of political parties, religious movements, and charities. However noble the cause, they say, these organizations quickly become self-perpetuating businesses.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“This way of thinking, in biblical times, made for prophets and apostles. In Roman times, it made for Stoics like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. In despotic times, it made for patriots like Cato and Brutus. In times of Church corruption, it made for Protestants insisting on “faith alone.” In times of clericalism and formalism, it made for Quakers following their “inner light.” And in America today, where commerce, industry, and Yankee practicality reign supreme, it makes for those known as Transcendentalists.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Transcendentalists assert that the human mind is the same—and just as open to inspiration—across all boundaries of geography, culture, race, and religion. They celebrate the expansive, daring explorations of the Eastern mind, and find much wisdom in Hinduism and Buddhism.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Transcendentalists have been accused of being rebels and rule-breakers. But if they disregard society’s customs and laws, it’s because they’re listening to conscience and obeying the Law Maker within. There are situations where virtue asks us to break the rules.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“A materialist would argue that I’m a product of my circumstances. But I make my own circumstances. If I make a change in my dominant thoughts or motives, a change in my situation and surroundings will soon follow. Through my actions, I attract people and situations to match my mentality. As I am, so I act; and as I act, so I attract.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased

“Philosophers have always diverged into two main schools: Materialists and Idealists. For Materialists, the starting point is experience; for idealists, it’s consciousness. Materialists trust only the data of the senses—what can be seen, touched, heard, felt, or tasted. Idealists insist that there is far more to reality than meets the eye (and other sense organs). Without the mind and its non-physical thoughts and ideas, the idealists say, the data of the senses would be a meaningless jumble. The”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Everyday Emerson: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson Paraphrased