Emerson … at his loftiest …

” You will hear everyday the maxims of a low prudence. You will hear that the first duty is to get land and money, place and name.   …   “What is this Truth you seek? What is this Beauty?” – men will ask with derision.     

If never the less God hath called any of you to explore Truth and Beauty, be Bold, be Firm, be True.   …    When you shall say, ‘As others do, so will I.  …    I renounce, I am sorry for it, my early visions;  I must eat the good of the land and let learning and romantic expectations go, untill a more convenvenient season.’ 

Then dies the man in you, then once more perish the buds of art, poetry and science; as they have died in a thousand thousand breasts. The hour of that choice is the crises of your history and see that you hold yourself fast by the intellect”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882). American essayist, philosopher,  poet and orator. His speech titled The American Scholar, has been called ‘The Intellecual Declaration of Independence’, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. One of the great orators of the time, Emerson’s enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was “the infinitude of the private man.”