What Ralph Waldo Emerson thinks about humility

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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 humility. See everyone on humility

4 dated positions, 1837 to c. 1841–1847, in their own words. Our reading of what Ralph Waldo Emerson has said — not written or endorsed by them.

4 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

1. c. 1841–1847

   Our readingSay what you think today even if it contradicts what you said yesterday

   Their wordsSpeak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.

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

3. c. 1841–1847

   Our readingWe are wiser than we know if we let our thought act without interference

   Their wordsWe are wiser than we know. If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular thing, and every thing, and every man.

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

5. 15 Jul 1838

   Our readingAnother soul can provoke me but not instruct me; I must find what it says true in myself or reject it

   Their wordsTruly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing.

   ↗Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856)gutenberg.org All 8 from this book

6. 10 months earlier

7. 31 Aug 1837

   Our readingYoung scholars wrongly defer to the views of great authors, forgetting those authors were once young men in libraries too

   Their wordsMeek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.

   ↗Miscellanies: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Phillips, Sampson, 1856)gutenberg.org All 8 from this book