“There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Self-Reliance (Primary source)
Perhaps Emerson’s most famous essay, Self-Reliance passionately urges individuals to trust their own instincts and intuitions rather than conforming to societal pressures or external authorities. It champions nonconformity, self-trust, and the power of the individual. Its famous opening line, Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string, encapsulates its core message.
“The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops—no, but the kind of man the country turns out.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“The years teach much which the days never know.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary sourceMore quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson →
“If a man owns land, the land owns him.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Truth was the only daughter of Time.”
— Leonardo da Vinci Primary source“Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source