Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade. Their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world as invalids pay a high board. Their virtues are penances. I do not wish to expiate, but to live my life is for itself, and not for spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady. I wish it to be sound and sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding. I ask for primary evidence that you are a man, and refuse this appeal from a man to his actions.
More Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
A man makes inferiors his superiors by heat self-control is the rule.Ralph Waldo Emerson
Beauty is the mark God sets on virtue. Every natural action is graceful every heroic act is also decent, and causes the place and the bystanders to shine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I cannot forgive a scholar his homeless despondency.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fate, then, is a name for facts not yet passed under the fire of thought for causes which are unpenetrated.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
No facts are to me sacred none are profane I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no past at my back.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Based on Topics: Actions Quotes, Aplogies Quotes, Charity Quotes, Courage Quotes, Life Quotes, Man Quotes, Vice & Virtue Quotes, Work & Career Quotes, World QuotesBased on Keywords: expiate, expiation, glittering, invalids, non-appearance, penances, unsteady
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Payne Stewart
I think he is an entertainer. I would prefer if he were a performer.
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Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.
William Godwin