"We plant trees, we build stone houses, we redeem the waste, we make prospective laws, we found colleges and hospitals, for remote generations."
About Ralph Waldo Emerson
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".
View full profileGet a daily quote
A new thought from history's greatest minds, every morning.
More on #justice
"You don't need words — just one kiss, then another."
— Kate Bush
"Many desire to kill me, and many wish to spend an hour chatting with me. The law protects me from the former."
— Karl Kraus
"Failure is not a disgrace. It’s just a pitch that you missed, and you’d better get ready for the next one... My son and I are Americans, we …"
— Craig Ferguson
"For young people today things move so fast there is no problem of adjustment. Before you can adjust to A, B has appeared leading C by the ha…"
— Louis Kronenberger
"No President has ever done more for human rights than I have."
— George W. Bush