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Representative Men

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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1. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 36. Yet Swedenborg, after his mode, pinned his theory to a temporary form. He exaggerates
2. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 36. n the spiritual world, we change sexes every moment. You love the worth in me; then I
3. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 38. But this topic suggests a sad afterthought, that here we find the seat of his own pai
4. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 38. , that he might descend safely amongst the unhappy, and witness the vastation of soul
5. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 40. Swedenborg’s system of the world wants central spontaneity; it is dynamic, not vital,
6. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 40. account, strong by his vices, often paralyzed by his virtues,—sinks into entire sympa
7. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 42. The excess of influence shows itself in the incongruous importation of a foreign rhet
8. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 42. those of a Swedish polemic, and his vast enlargements purchased by adamantine limitat
9. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 45. “Goodness and being in the gods are one; He who imputes ill to them makes them none.”
10. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 49. For the anomalous pretension of Revelations of the other world,—only his probity and
11. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 50. The secret of heaven is kept from age to age. No imprudent, no sociable angel ever dr
12. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 51. In this mood, we hear the rumor that the seer has arrived, and his tale is told. But
13. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 51. ose lessons he conveys; and when he asserts that, “in some sort, love is greater than
14. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 53. It is remarkable that this man, who, by his perception of symbols, saw the poetic con
15. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 54. Yet, in this immolation of genius and fame at the shrine of conscience, is a merit su
16. "III. SWEDENBORG; OR, THE MYSTIC.", para. 55. Swedenborg has rendered a double service to mankind, which is now only beginning to b
17. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 1. IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC. Every fact is related on one side to sensation and, o
18. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 5. Each of these riders drives too fast. Plotinus believes only in philosophers; Fenelon
19. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 7. On the other part, the men of toil and trade and luxury,—the animal world, including
20. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 8. Things always bring their own philosophy with them, that is, prudence. No man acquire
21. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 9. “Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib, und Gesang Der bleibt ein Narr sein Leben lang,” and whe
22. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 13. The abstractionist and the materialist thus mutually exasperating each other, and the
23. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 15. But I see plainly, he says, that I cannot see. I know that human strength is not in e
24. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 16. Who shall forbid a wise skepticism, seeing that there is no practical question on whi
25. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 16. estroy that chiefest beauty of spontaneousness. Excellent is culture for a savage; bu
26. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 18. The philosophy we want is one of fluxions and mobility. The Spartan and Stoic schemes
27. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 19. The terms of admission to this spectacle are, that he have a certain solid and intell
28. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 21. A single odd volume of Cotton’s translation of the Essays remained to me from my fath
29. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 22. In 1571, on the death of his father, Montaigne, then thirty-eight years old, retired
30. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 23. Montaigne is the frankest and honestest of all writers. His French freedom runs into
31. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 25. Here is an impatience and fastidiousness at color or pretense of any kind. He has bee
32. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 25. o not constrain me, and plain topics where I do not need to strain myself and pump my
33. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 27. The sincerity and marrow of the man reaches to his sentences. I know not anywhere the
34. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 28. Montaigne died of a quinsy, at the age of sixty, in 1592. When he came to die, he cau
35. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 30. Shall we say that Montaigne has spoken wisely, and given the right and permanent expr
36. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 32. But though we are natural conservers and causationists, and reject a sour, dumpish un
37. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 34. The superior mind will find itself equally at odds with the evils of society, and wit
38. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 36. I do not press the skepticism of the materialist. I know the quadruped opinion will n
39. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 37. This is hobgoblin the first; and, though it has been the subject of much elegy, in ou
40. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 38. There is the power of moods, each setting at nought all but its own tissue of facts a
41. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 39. The word Fate, or Destiny, expresses the sense of mankind, in all ages,—that the laws
42. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 41. Or, shall I state it thus?—The astonishment of life, is, the absence of any appearanc
43. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 42. There are these, and more than these diseases of thought, which our ordinary teachers
44. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 44. Great believers are always reckoned infidels, impracticable, fantastic, atheistic, an
45. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 46. The final solution in which skepticism is lost is in the moral sentiment, which never
46. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 48. Charles Fourier announced that “the attractions of man are proportioned to his destin
47. "IV. MONTAIGNE; OR, THE SKEPTIC.", para. 49. The expansive nature of truth comes to our succor, elastic, not to be surrounded. Man
48. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 1. V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET. Great men are more distinguished by range and extent tha
49. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 3. The Genius of our life is jealous of individuals, and will not have any individual gr
50. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 3. eparations. Great genial power, one would almost say, consists in not being original
51. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 5. The secure possession, by the stage, of the public mind, is of the first importance t
52. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 6. Shakspeare, in common with his comrades, esteemed the mass of old plays, waste stock,
53. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 7. In point of fact, it appears that Shakspeare did owe debts in all directions, and was
54. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 8. Shakspeare knew that tradition supplies a better fable that any invention can. If he
55. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 9. The influence of Chaucer is conspicuous in all our early literature; and, more recent
56. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 10. Thus, all originality is relative. Every thinker is retrospective. The learned member
57. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 11. It is easy to see that what is best written or done by genius, in the world, was no m
58. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 11. ket thinks, the mason, the carpenter, the merchant, the farmer, the fop, all think fo
59. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 13. There is somewhat touching in the madness with which the passing age mischooses the o
60. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 14. If it need wit to know wit, according to the proverb, Shakspeare’s time should be cap
61. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 14. Our ears are educated to music by his rhythm. Coleridge and Goethe are the only criti
62. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 16. But whatever scraps of information concerning his condition these researches may have
63. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 17. That imagination which dilates the closet he writes into the world’s dimension, crowd
64. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 19. Hence, though our external history is so meager, yet, with Shakspeare for biographer,
65. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 20. Some able and appreciating critics think no criticism on Shakspeare valuable, that do
66. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 21. Shakspeare is as much out of the category of eminent authors, as he is out of the cro
67. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 22. This power of expression, or of transferring the inmost truth of things into music an
68. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 25. Though the speeches in the plays, and single lines, have a beauty which tempts the ea
69. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 27. One more royal trait properly belongs to the poet. I mean his cheerfulness, without w
70. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 29. Shakspeare, Homer, Dante, Chaucer, saw the splendor of meaning that plays over the vi
71. "V. SHAKSPEARE; OR, THE POET.", para. 29. es comes to mind, that he was a jovial actor and manager. I cannot marry this fact to
72. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 1. VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD. Among the eminent persons of the nineteenth c
73. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 3. In our society, there is a standing antagonism between the conservative and the democ
74. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 4. Every one of the million readers of anecdotes, or memoirs, or lives of Napoleon, deli
75. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 5. It is true that a man of Napoleon’s truth of adaptation to the mind of the masses aro
76. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 5. measures, sets his stamp on them, and not these alone, but on every happy and memorab
77. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 8. Napoleon renounced, once for all, sentiments and affections, and would help himself w
78. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 10. The times, his constitution, and his early circumstances, combined to develop this pa
79. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 11. Nature must have far the greatest share in every success, and so in his. Such a man w
80. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 11. precise point of resistance, and slights all other considerations. He is strong in th
81. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 12. History is full, down to this day, of the imbecility of kings and governors. They are
82. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 12. e saw only the object: the obstacle must give way. “Sire, General Clarke cannot combi
83. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 14. We like to see everything do its office after its kind, whether it be a milch-cow or
84. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 15. This vigor was guarded and tempered by the coldest prudence and punctuality. A thunde
85. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 16. Everything depended on the nicety of his combinations, and the stars were not more pu
86. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 17. To these gifts of nature, Napoleon added the advantage of having been born to a priva
87. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 18. His grand weapon, namely, the millions whom he directed, he owed to the representativ
88. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 19. But though there is in particulars this identity between Napoleon and the mass of the
89. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 19. m as its natural patron. In 1814, when advised to rely on the higher classes, Napoleo
90. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 20. Napoleon met this natural expectation. The necessity of his position required a hospi
91. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 20. at he said, “I have two hundred millions in my coffers, and I would give them all for
92. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 21. When a natural king becomes a titular king, everybody is pleased and satisfied. The R
93. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 21. the fight. Perhaps it is a little puerile, the pleasure he took in making these contr
94. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 22. We cannot, in the universal imbecility, indecision, and indolence of men, sufficientl
95. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 22. profession of the land commander, is the necessity of feeding so many men and animals
96. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 23. This deputy of the nineteenth century added to his gifts a capacity for speculation o
97. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 23. Paris, and with Antonomarchi at St. Helena. “Believe me, “he said to the last, “we ha
98. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 26. I call Napoleon the agent or attorney of the middle class of modern society; of the t
99. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 27. Bonaparte was singularly destitute of generous sentiments. The highest-placed individ
100. "VI. NAPOLEON; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD.", para. 27. character pleases me; he is stern and resolute, and, I believe, the fellow never shed