At a glance
- Age
- 78
- Born
- May 25, 1803
- From
- Boston
- Nationality
- United States
Biography
The line most people meet first is the one about self-reliance and refusing to be pressed into shape by the crowd. That argument — that a person's own judgement is worth more than the settled opinion around them — is the reason Emerson still turns up in quote collections and lecture clips more than a century after his death.
He was born in Boston in 1803 and went by his middle name, Waldo. His working life covered a lot of ground: essayist, lecturer, minister, abolitionist, poet. Out of that came the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, which he led, and a body of writing built around individualism and critical thinking. He was also an early and sharp critic of conformity and the pressure society applies to those who won't go along with it.
His reputation abroad and among other writers was substantial. Friedrich Nietzsche described him as the most gifted of the Americans. Walt Whitman called him his master. Emerson died in 1882.
He was born in Boston in 1803 and went by his middle name, Waldo. His working life covered a lot of ground: essayist, lecturer, minister, abolitionist, poet. Out of that came the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, which he led, and a body of writing built around individualism and critical thinking. He was also an early and sharp critic of conformity and the pressure society applies to those who won't go along with it.
His reputation abroad and among other writers was substantial. Friedrich Nietzsche described him as the most gifted of the Americans. Walt Whitman called him his master. Emerson died in 1882.
Quotes 11
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
“Self-trust is the first secret of success.”
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.”
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
