The years teach much which the days never know.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

time knowledge perspective distance

About Ralph Waldo Emerson

Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882), 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...

More quotations from Ralph Waldo Emerson

In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

imagination vision art seeing

Every hero becomes a bore at last.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

heroism perception boredom

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

heroism bravery

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little coarse, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

action life loss better experiments

Traveling is a fool's paradise. . . . I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

identity self travel paradise

More quotations tagged with “distance”

People travel to faraway places to watch in fascination the kind of people they ignore at home.

—Dagobert D. Runes

ignorance people perception curiosity distance travel

Some relationships just don't work out, no matter how bad both parties might want them to. Sometimes time, distance, and circumstances get in the way. And sometimes we have a purpose for our lives that couldn't be fulfilled inside the bounds of that relationship.

—Mandy Hale in but My Luggage Has

relationships purpose time distance

When you're too close to people, when you spend too much time with them and love them too dearly, sometimes you can't see them.

—Tana French in The Likeness

love time people perception seeing distance

We have become terribly vulnerable, not because we suffer but because we have separated ourselves from each other. A patient once told me that he had tried to ignore his own suffering and the suffering of other people because he had wanted to be happy. Yet becoming numb to suffering will not make us happy. The part in us that feels suffering is the same as the part that feels joy.

—Rachel Naomi Remen

happiness joy suffering vulnerability distance numbness

When there’s something or someone, when there’s anything that makes you happy, you don’t let a continent or an ocean or an empty pocket keep you apart.

—Dana Reinhardt in The Summer I Learned to Fly

love relationships happiness distance