“If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Compensation (Primary source)
Emerson explores the law of compensation, suggesting that every action (cause) has a corresponding reaction (effect), meaning that there is no free lunch, but we get what we give.
“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“The law of nature is, do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary sourceMore quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson →
“Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Nature suffers nothing to remain in her kingdoms which cannot help itself.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”
— Thomas Jefferson Primary source“Silk and satins and scarlets and velvets put out the kitchen fire.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary sourceCause and Effect Enslavement Justice Evil