Many Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes are about his passion: Transcendentalism, especially as it applies to literature. Emerson was intent upon teaching, inspiring and spreading the philosophy of Transcendentalism. As he taught, he created many quotes that are now regarded as trusted words of wisdom.
Viewing Each Day
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Emerson also lent insight to what drives people to worship God in the ways they do. Emerson exposes the natural inclination of man to worship his own likeness:
The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant.
Ordained as a minister in his youth, Emerson began to see flaws in religious practice as he grew older. Emerson believed that the divine and the personal were intertwined, and that it fell on individuals to look beyond the services and rites offered in church to discover their personal relationship with the divine.
As a transcendentalist, Emerson disparaged materialism and lauded the pursuit of wisdom, insight, creative growth and mercy. He was often saddened by the way materialism ruled the lives of those he met. As a result, he liked to say:
"Things are in the saddle and ride mankind."
Emerson on Writing
When applying the principles of transcendentalism to literature, Emerson placed emphasis on the significance of the experience of both the writer and the reader when considering a written work. It was important that literature inspire instead of simply informing. Emerson encouraged both the writer and the reader to be emotionally engaged in the processes of reading and writing. One famous quote regarding this philosophy is the following:
There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.
Above all, Emerson admired independent thought. He was heard to say:
The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.
Ralph Waldo Emerson poems often deal with divine subject matter, asking the reader to look for God's influence in the everyday world. |
Learn some facts on Ralph Waldo Emerson, a talented American poet who made great contributions to modern thinking during the 1800s. |
Learn facts on Ralph Waldo Emerson and his belief in Transcendentalism, read some Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes and learn about Ralph Waldo Emerson poems. |
