Date: August 31, 1837

"But they can only highly serve us, when they aim not to drill, but to create; when they gather from far every ray of various genius to their hospitable halls, and, by the concentrated fires, set the hearts of their youth on flame."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: August 31, 1837

"The world, — this shadow of the soul, or other me, lies wide around."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: August 31, 1837

"But he, in his private observatory, cataloguing obscure and nebulous stars of the human mind, which as yet no man has thought of as such, — watching days and months, sometimes, for a few facts; correcting still his old records; — must relinquish display and immediate fame."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: August 31, 1837

"For this self-trust, the reason is deeper than can be fathomed, — darker than can be enlightened."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: 1845

"Their minds had been starved by their cruel masters. They had been shut up in mental darkness."

— Douglass, Frederick (1818-1895)

Date: 1890

"We noticed smallest things, / Things overlooked before, / By this great light upon our  minds / Italicized, as 't were."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"I found the phrase to every thought / I ever had, but one; / And that defies me,--as a hand / Did try to chalk the sun // To races nurtured in the dark."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"It's past set down before the soul, / And lighted with a match, / Perusal to facilitate / Of its condensed despatch."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"Grant me, O Lord, a sunny mind, / Thy windy will to bear!"

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)