“What is there in 'Paradise Lost' to elevate and astonish like Herschel or Somerville?”
Quoted in Robert D. Richardson, Jr., Emerson, the Mind On Fire (Univ. of Calif Press 1995), p. 124
“What is there in 'Paradise Lost' to elevate and astonish like Herschel or Somerville?”
Quoted in Robert D. Richardson, Jr., Emerson, the Mind On Fire (Univ. of Calif Press 1995), p. 124
Plato; or, The Philosopher
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
“Circles, like the soul, are neverending and turn round and round without a stop”
This adage had previously appeared, identically worded, in Coleridge's The Statesman's Manual (1816)
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Circles
“And striving to be man, the worm
Mounts through all the spires of form.”
May-Day
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Quotation and Originality
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Self-Reliance
Ode, st. 5
1860s, May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
“Sunshine cannot bleach the snow,
Nor time unmake what poets know.”
"The Test", as quoted in Emerson As A Poet (1883) by Joel Benton, p. 40
“Language is the archives of history … Language is fossil poetry.”
1840s, Essays: Second Series (1844), The Poet
“Never read any book that is not a year old.”
In Praise of Books
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose.”
Intellect
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Wherever Macdonald sits, there is the head of the table.”
1830s, The American Scholar http://www.emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm (1837)
Uses of Great Men
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
Boston Hymn http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1177/, st. 2
1860s, May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
1860s, The Conduct of Life (1860), Behavior
“We do what we must, and call it by the best names we can.”
1840s, Essays: Second Series (1844), Experience
“Man exists for his own sake and not to add a laborer to the state.”
Journal, 328, Nov. 15, 1839, http://www.perfectidius.com/Volume_5_1838-1841.pdf
1820s, Journals (1822–1863)
“Earth proudly wears the Parthenon
As the best gem upon her zone.”
St. 3
1840s, Poems (1847), The Problem http://www.emersoncentral.com/poems/problem.htm
“Time dissipates to shining ether the solid angularity of facts.”
History
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Essays, First Series