Quote

1838·Concord, Massachusetts, USA

The world is nothing, the man is all; in yourself is the law of all nature, and you know not yet how a globule of sap ascends; in yourself slumbers the whole of Reason; it is for you to know all, it is for you to dare all.

Read the full speech→Address to the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge (1838)

Similar Thoughts

Siddhartha Gautama·-400 AD

Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge. Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the Truth as a refuge.

Ralph Waldo Emerson·1839

He needs no library, for he has not done thinking; no church, for he is himself a prophet; no statute book, for he hath the Lawgiver; no money, for he is value itself; no road, for he is at home where he is.

Zhuangzi·300 BC

Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse.

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More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

1844·Boston

Life is a journey, not a destination.

1841

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

1841·Concord, Massachusetts, USA

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Locus

Concord, Massachusetts, USA

Tempus