Every artist was first an amateur.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American essayist and lecturer, and the central figure of Transcendentalism. He left the ministry to write and speak publicly, and his essays Nature and Self-Reliance laid the groundwork for American thinking about the individual and their relation to society.
About this theme: Growth
Growth is one of the few subjects the Stoics and modern psychologists agree on: a person is not a finished product. What shifts across the centuries is not the belief that we can change, but how comfortable that belief is made to sound. Ancient writers treat growth as a duty, almost severely — Seneca opens his letters by reproaching himself. Contemporary writing prefers the language of potential and possibility.
More by Ralph Waldo Emerson
More on Growth
- An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.— Benjamin Franklin
- The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.— Confucius
- True life is lived when tiny changes occur.— Leo Tolstoy
- Associate with people who are likely to improve you.— Seneca
- He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.— Confucius