Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
- All
I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.
- Always
do what you are afraid to do.
- As
long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.
- Do
not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a
trail.
- Nature predominates over the human will in all works of even the fine arts, in all that respects their material and external circumstances. Nature paints the best part of the picture, carves the best of the statue, builds the best part of the house, and speaks the best part of the oration.
- Painting seems to be to the eye what dancing is to the limbs. When that has educated the frame to self-possession, to nimbleness, to grace, the steps of the dancing-master are better forgotten; so painting teaches me the splendor of color and the expression of form, and as I see many pictures and higher genius in the art, I see the boundless opulence of the pencil, the indifferency in which the artist stands free to choose out of the possible forms.