101 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The very best book I've ever read., April 25, 1998
If a book is ever going to whack you upside the head, this will be the one. I used to think of Emerson and Thoreau interchangeably, as if they were merely conduits of the same fluid. I had already read and enjoyed Thoreau, but Thoreau hadn't changed my life the way I hoped he might. He pointed me into the woods, which I really appreciate, but he didn't pick me up by the lapels and communicate with me. So it took me a while for me to get to Emerson. After all, I had already read Thoreau.
Man, what a shame.
Reading Emerson is like meditating on the wind that whistles through the reeds of a universal lake. He creates an existential sanctuary for the seekers among us, a place where we can strip down to our barest questions and be at peace with not knowing their answers. Emerson strokes our "need to become" like a kind father who understands the hurt but cannot make it disappear. His universal truths of the heart do as much to soothe as to educate. Emerson thought for himself at a time when it was literally dangerous to do so. He excavated his heart, mind, soul, and body for nuggets of wisdom and offered them freely to anyone brave enough to partake.
The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson is a book of vision. We could do well to wallpaper our home with Emerson's quotes and use them as stepping stones in our own life's journey. Emerson has instituted a category of human aspiration that I will call existential, transcendental individualism. His is a rebellious spirit. Not rebellious in the sense that a teenager is rebellious, being unconsciously contrary to any matter of public opinion, but rebellious in a more directed fashion. Emerson looked out and saw a societal charade that seemed to hinder our human potential. Emerson rebelled against the fear and dogma that have always run the masses in favor of a more honest religion, one that allows the spirit of God to "enter by a private door into every individual" (p. 194). Emerson awoke in me a latent skill for independent thinking, a method of dialog that encourages me to question and think even as I find God in every moment. I received from this book everything I had hoped to receive from Thoreau... the Bible... and my endless quest for direction through literature. I discovered that if ever I was going to be an "-ist," I would be an existentialist.
Quotes.Yes, we need quotes. Here is a handful of the countless passages that I underlined in my own copy of the book. I will not introduce these quotes because Emerson can write for himself. Man, can he write for himself...
A mind might ponder its thought for ages, and not gain so much self-knowledge as the passion of love shall teach it in a day.
No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. To be great is to be misunderstood.
It is only as a man puts off all foreign support, and stands alone, that I see him to be strong and to prevail.
No man had ever a defect that was not somewhere made useful to him.
The fact that I am here certainly shows me that the soul had need of an organ here. Shall I not assume the post?
To stand in true relations with men in a false age is worth a fit of insanity, is it not?
We must be our own, before we can be another's.
The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough.
That which we are, we shall teach, not voluntarily, but involuntarily.
God enters by a private door into every individual.
The angels are so enamored of the language that is spoken in heaven that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there any who understand it or not.
Emerson was rebuked by clergymen who felt threatened by his air of self-reliance. A once-ordained Unitarian minister, Emerson left his pastorate due to doctrinal disputes. This Emerson fellow was actually applying himself to the principles on which the Church convened, not merely going through the motions with the rest of them. Such a man was dangerous. Just as Jesus was dangerous. A man like Emerson might upset the political order,perhaps even ruin the whole tithe racquet. Today Emerson is sometimes rebuked by those who are offended by his "sexist language." Emerson wrote at a time when it was common to use the universal masculine "he," "his," and "him." And again his wisdom is lost on those who cannot see past their political hang-ups. If we can get beyond our egos, however, we'll see that Emerson has as much to offer the literate community as any scholar, pastor,or messiah in history. And he doesn't hide his message in the space between the lines of a story; he shares his message with the same open, honest spirit that bleeds from every page of this book.
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mighty thoughts that can shake your life!, July 15, 1998
This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. I know that many people don't like to read essays of any kind, but all I can say is that Ralph Waldo Emerson is simply different! Nobody has the gift to write essays and analyze life like him.
His words and ideas are so powerful and deep that we soon realize that they didn't come only from a brilliant mind, but also from a warm-hearted soul!
That's exactly what this book is about: Its sentences break through your brain and penetrate right into your soul! Emerson's optimistic view on human beings and life can only reinforce our courage in mankind and, especially, in ourselves!
What else can I say? His speech is direct, he defends all the good values, tell us to have confidence in ourselves and show us that passing through life with dignity is a matter of choice and courage, and that it simply doesn't change with time. It was like this a thousand years ago, it will probably follow the same rules a thousand years f! ! rom now.
This is the book I grab to comfort my spirit when I'm having difficult times... :) It is a guide that make us believe that anything is possible when we really want it! " Self-Reliance ", one of the essays inside this book, is a masterpiece in its own and I believe it should be studied in every high school, instead some of the crap we are usually obliged to read!
This book can shape your spirit and your mind. It is also possibly THE BEST self-help book you could ever own and, yet, a great literary work.
I would rate this book as ageless and I'm sure the future generations will be still interested in it, in the same way we are in those ancient Greek and Roman texts.
This is precious culture and food for your soul as a bargain! Do not waste more time. READ IT!!!
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