Date: September 10, 1836

"In my utter impotence to test the authenticity of the report of my senses, to know whether the impressions they make on me correspond with outlying objects, what difference does it make, whether Orion is up there in heaven, or some god paints the image in the firmament of the soul?"

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: September 10, 1836

"Whether nature enjoy a substantial existence without, or is only in the apocalypse of the mind, it is alike useful and alike venerable to me."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: September 10, 1836

"The first effort of thought tends to relax this despotism of the senses, which binds us to nature as if we were a part of it, and shows us nature aloof, and, as it were, afloat."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: September 10, 1836

"When the eye of Reason opens, to outline and surface are at once added, grace and expression."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: September 10, 1836

"Whilst we wait in this Olympus of gods, we think of nature as an appendix to the soul."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: September 10, 1836

"These are examples of Reason’s momentary grasp of the sceptre; the exertions of a power which exists not in time or space, but an instantaneous in-streaming causing power."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: August 31, 1837

"But for the evidence thence afforded to the philosophical doctrine of the identity of all minds, we should suppose some preestablished harmony, some foresight of souls that were to be, and some preparation of stores for their future wants, like the fact observed in insects, who lay up food befor...

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

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

The world's "attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself."

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)