Henry Van Dyke vs. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
Henry Van Dyke
1852 – 1933
Henry Jackson van Dyke Jr. was an American author, educator, diplomat, and Presbyterian clergyman.
"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803 – 1882
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. Friedrich Nietzsche thought he was "the most gifted of the Americans," and Walt Whitman called Emerson his "master".
"Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous."