What Ralph Waldo Emerson thinks about happiness
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.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Only Ralph Waldo Emerson on happiness. See everyone on happiness
6 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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Their wordsTravelling is a fool’s paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places.
↗Essays, First Series (1841)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsNothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
↗Essays, First Series (1841)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsTo fill the hour,—that is happiness; to fill the hour and leave no crevice for a repentance or an approval. We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them.
↗Essays, Second Series (1844)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsLife is a series of surprises, and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.
↗Essays, Second Series (1844)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsRings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself.
↗Essays, Second Series (1844)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsFor the expectation of gratitude is mean, and is continually punished by the total insensibility of the obliged person.
↗Essays, Second Series (1844)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book