By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world, The foe long since in silence slept, Alike the Conqueror silent sleeps, And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. On […]
These Roses by Ralph Waldo Emerson
These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; […]
Divinity School Address by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge, Sunday Evening, July 15, 1838 In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold in the tint of flowers. The air is full of birds, and […]
God it came. It is Deity (excerpt) by Ralph Waldo Emerson
I will not live out of me I will not see with others’ eyes My good is good, my evil ill I would be free – I cannot be While I take things as others please to rate them I dare attempt to lay out my own road That which myself delights in shall be […]
Goodbye Proud World by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Good-bye, proud world! I’m going home: Thou art not my friend, and I’m not thine. Long through thy weary crowds I roam; A river-ark on the ocean brine, Long I’ve been tossed like the driven foam; But now, proud world! I’m going home. Good-bye to Flattery’s fawning face; To Grandeur with his wise grimace; To […]
The Over-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is a difference between one and another hour of life, in their authority and subsequent effect. Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. Yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other experiences. For this reason, the argument which […]
The Successful Life Ralph Waldo Emerson
To laugh often and love much. To win and hold the respect of intelligent persons, and the affection of little children; to earn the praise of honest critics and to endure, without flinching, the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty always, whether in earth’s creations or men and women’s handiwork; to have sought for […]
Self-Reliance (poem) by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henceforth, please God, forever I forego The yoke of men’s opinions. I will be Light-hearted as a bird, and live with God. I find him in the bottom of my heart, I hear continually his voice therein. * * * The little needle always knows the North, The little bird remembereth his note, And this […]
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. Always the soul hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe […]