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Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist
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10 quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson · clear filters
2
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines
3
Though slowly and with pain, the objects of the affections change, as the objects of thought do.
4
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
5
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide
6
Every promise of the soul has innumerable fulfilments; each of its joys ripens into a new want.
7
Thus even love, which is the deification of persons, must become more impersonal every day.
8
Society we must have; but let it be society, and not exchanging news, or eating from the same dish.
9
To accomplish anything excellent, the will must work for catholic and universal ends.
10
I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emersonmisattributed·Wind-Wafted Wild Flowers, by Muriel Strode, in The Open Court, Volume XVII, Number 567·August 1903
Wrongly attributed
Universally attributed to Emerson, and it is in none of his essays, journals or letters. It is Muriel Strode, an American writer almost nobody has heard of, in the August 1903 issue of The Open Court. The rewriting is the interesting part: Strode wrote a vow in the first person about herself, and the version that circulates has been turned into an instruction issued to somebody else. Do not go where the path may lead is not what she said. I will not follow is.