As you have discovered from his writings, Ralph Waldo Emerson was an man of profound thought and incisive observation. His calls to live simply and understand ourselves through the natural world around us have resonance even in, perhaps especially in, today's society.
Your task is to choose one of the following Emerson quotes and explain what you believe it means. You may wish to include examples from your own life, or what you know about transcendentalism, to help illustrate your point. Please use no more than three sentences. You must post your response by the end of class.
Please write the number of the quote in your response so I know which one you picked.This assignment is worth one homework grade.
1. "A man in debt is so far a slave."
2. “Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
3. "Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
4. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
5. “Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
6. “It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
7. “I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
8. “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
9. “Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.”
10. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statemen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do"
11. "Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare."
12. "Society is a wave. The wave moves forward, but the water of which it is composed does not."
3. This quote is very interesting and relatable. Emerson is saying that you should always try new things and not give up, because "life is an experiment". If you don't try new things, you will never learn.
ReplyDelete3. This quote is easy to relate to because it means that we should not give up and be afraid to make mistakes because "life is an experiment". In a scientific manner, more experiments means that there will be less room for error, relating to the mistakes that people make in there life. Overall I think that Emerson is trying to convey the idea that we are supposed to mess up in life, but the real challenge is to endure those mishaps and keep moving forward.
ReplyDelete11. "Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare."
ReplyDeleteThe ability to write revolutionary works of literature does not come from simply studying other well known works. Shakespeare is well known because of the differences, not the similarities, between his work and any others. If someone wants to create a new great novel, it must be unique, and not merely a copy of a novel that is already popular.
9.Time, especially when spare, is finite. But those moments are what one makes of them, they can be highly valued, or discarded with impracticalities. They can be the most endearing parts of life, with the most substantial impact.
ReplyDelete3) I like this quote because sometimes we are afraid to take chances and take actions. Sometimes the actions that we take lead us in the wrong direction and we are afraid to make that mistake. In the end we learn from our mistakes and that's how we move forward in life. We are all human and we all make mistakes.
ReplyDeleteQuote three exemplifies the need to be spontaneous with your actions and have no regrets. "Timid" and "squeamish" in this context describe someone who is too shy to accomplish what they really want, or believe in. By using the word "experiment", Emerson reveals his idea that you only have one life, and you should make the most of it by trying new things.
ReplyDelete3. It was a transcendental belief that one should look inside to find what they believe in and not to some external force, which ties into the common notion among psychologists that the best way for someone to learn more about themselves is by defining their own personal values, meaning one should “experiment” with trying different things in order to find what resonates with them. In this quote, Emerson encourages people not to be “too timid and squeamish about your actions,” because “The more experiments you make the better.” What Emerson is trying to allude to is that, in life, one must be constantly growing into themselves, through the form of experimenting, and by doing so, shed all of the useless qualities that society has left on man, such as social dependence and intellectual stagnation.
ReplyDelete11. What people learn, and what makes someone who they are is not dictated by their education. Experiences, interactions, friends, and family are a few of many ways a person learns and is eventually sculpted into who they become as a person in this world. Learning is not only attending school and finishing all of ones assignment but also really living life to the fullest and learning from those events and experiences.
ReplyDelete3. This quote is saying that life should not be approached with lack of courage, or enthusiasm. You should not expect to be correct or accomplish something the first time you try it, rather try and try again until you succeed. The more times you try and accomplish something, you will feel more confident and be more motivated to accomplish more goals in your life.
ReplyDeleteQuote three is about taking risks. People learn from everything they do so one should not hesitate or be afraid to take chances and experience new things. New experiences are what make one grow as a person. If one avoids certain situations or experiences, there will be many missed opportunities and life lessons.
ReplyDeleteThe second quote conveys an important idea of living life day by day and not getting bogged down by all that can go wrong. This ideal that I try to live by, of looking "tomorrow as a new day," has helped me maintain a positive attitude and outlook on life. By clearing the slate each day we remove the bonds and "old nonsense" we are able to move on with our lives and not dwell on the "blunders" of the past focusing on what is ahead.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the third quote means that one should not hesitate in exploring new things because life is an adventure. Without trying new things, or "experimenting", life would be boring and no mistakes would be made. Mistakes can be used as learning experiences, therefore the more you try, the more you learn.
ReplyDelete#3 : As humans, we have to be proud of who we are & where we stand, however, we must seek to improve ourselves through new experiences and opportunities. Making progress involves risks;"squeamishness" will get us no where, it takes true bravery to succeed in life regardless of the times we fail. Our errors will ultimately make us stronger.
ReplyDeleteQuote 12; "Society is a wave. The wave moves forward, but the water of which it is composed does not."
ReplyDeleteIn quote 12, Emerson is saying that although society progresses, the substance of society, the people, do not change. Civilizations rise and fall going through their natural courses and society does elevate it's self and press on, but human nature does not change (Which is not necessarily a bad thing). A key idea in transcendentalism is that society corrupts the purity of man and this quote serves to explain that although society changes and "advances", people will always stay inherently good and the inner essence of human beings does not change.
Quote #5;
ReplyDeleteSuccess is sometimes the result of misunderstanding from others. Emerson's examples are individuals who made major contributions to scientific, philosophical, or religious thinking. Now we are thankfull for their explications and/or discoveries but at the time those whise man were very much ignored.
7. Emerson conveys that although he does not acutely remember every detail of his life thus far, each minuscule moment and experience has played a role in forming the person that he is presently. This connects to the concept of transcendentalism, or going beyond the surface of the everyday to understand the reality of oneself and the universe, because as human beings, we exist as an embodiment of a spirit and a culmination of everything that we have lived through. The significance of every element of our lives in determining who we are then helps us to understand the complexity and interdependent nature of the universe, in which every breathe we take sets the future on an entirely new path.
ReplyDelete