What Ralph Waldo Emerson thinks about friendship

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American essayist and lecturer (1803 to 1882); began his career as a Unitarian minister in Boston; author of essays including Self-Reliance, History, The Over-Soul and Fate.

Ralph Waldo Emerson did not write this page.

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Only Ralph Waldo Emerson on friendship. See everyone on friendship

2 dated positions, c. 1844 to c. 1841–1847, in their own words. Our reading of what Ralph Waldo Emerson has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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1. c. 1841–1847

   Our readingBetter to challenge a friend than merely agree, and true friendship requires being able to do without it

   Their wordsBetter be a nettle in the side of your friend than his echo. The condition which high friendship demands is ability to do without it.

   ↗Essays, First Series (1841)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book

3. c. 1844

   Our readingThe tighter a person's union with others, the smaller and more pitiful they become

   Their wordsEach man, if he attempts to join himself to others, is on all sides cramped and diminished of his proportion; and the stricter the union the smaller and the more pitiful he is.

   ↗Essays, Second Series (1844)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book