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But genius always looks forward. The eyes of man are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead. Man hopes. Genius creates. To create—to create—is the proof of a divine presence.
Ralph Waldo Emerson The American Scholar · 1837

Quotes

“The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Harvard Divinity School Address, 1838 · Primary source

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Self-Reliance, 1841 · Primary source

“Insist on yourself; never imitate.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Self-Reliance, 1841 · Primary source

“To be great is to be misunderstood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Self-Reliance, 1841 · Primary source

“That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Self-Reliance, 1841 · Primary source

“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet. Then all things are at risk.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Circles, 1841 · Primary source

“I must Create a System, or be enslav’d by another Mans
I will not Reason & Compare: my business is to Create”

William Blake · Jerusalem: The Emanation of The Giant Albion, 1804 · Primary source

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · No reliable source

Related Tags

Creativity 6 Genius 4 Hope 12 Transcendentalism 32 Imitation 3 Authenticity 8 Self-reliance 48 Individuality 13 Self-trust 7 Independent thought 8 Nonconformity 14 Independence 29 Public opinion 5 Individual talent 2 Vocation 4 Divine guidance 1 Intellectual disruption 1 Questioning assumptions 1 Social change 8 Initiative 18 Creative independence 2 Imagination 16 System-building 1 Intellectual autonomy 1