“The life of man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and would embrace at last the universal sphere.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A vivid description of human growth and the continuous expansion of our understanding and being.
Circles (Primary source)
In this essay, Emerson discusses the idea that everything in life is constantly expanding and evolving, like concentric circles. It emphasizes the fluid and ever-changing nature of truth and knowledge.
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.”
— 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“The years teach much which the days never know.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary sourceMore quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson →
“Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“The motive of science was the extension of man, on all sides, into Nature, till his hands should touch the stars.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Disputed“A new-born government must dazzle.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Disputed