Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays and Lectures. Book Two (5)

1803 -1882. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1983.

Why read it? Emerson’s unit of thought is the epigrammatic sentence. Emerson writes a poetic prose. Emerson’s beliefs—that each man shares in the Over-Soul, or God, that man possesses, within himself, the means to all knowledge—expressed in his memorable sentences, are of central importance in the history of American culture. The only trouble is most of his ideas are half-truths.

Ideas:

“…I see plainly…that I cannot see.” P. 693. ………. “…human strength is not in extremes, but in avoiding extremes.” P. 693. ……….. “The essays [Montaigne’s], therefore, are an entertaining soliloquy on every random topic that comes into his head.” P. 700. ………. “It is the language of conversation transferred to a book.” P. 700. ……….. “The superior mind will find itself equally at odds with the evils of society, and with the ;projects that are offered to relieve them.” P. 702. ………. “Knowledge is the knowing that we can’t know.” P. 703. ………. “The word fate or destiny, expresses the sense of mankind, in all ages—that the laws of the world do not always befriend, but often hurt or crush us.” P. 704. ………. “Great believers are always reckoned infidels, impracticable, fantastic, atheists, and really men of no account.” P. 707. ………. “Great men are more distinguished by range and extent than by originality.” P. 710. ………. “The greatest genius is the most indebted man” [referring to Shakespeare’s borrowing from his sources]. P. 710. ………. “He[Chaucer] steals by this apology [that] what he takes has no worth where he finds it, and the greatest where he leaves it.” P. 714. ………. “Thus, all originality is relative.” P. 715. ………. “Shakespeare is the only biographer of Shakespeare; and even he can tell nothing, except to the Shakespeare in us.” P. 720.

To be continued.