"A man cannot free himself by any..." - Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man cannot free himself by any self-denying ordinances, neither by water nor potatoes, nor by violent possibilities, by refusing to swear, refusing to pay taxes, by going to jail, or by taking another man's crops or squatting on his land. By none of these ways can he free himself; no, nor by paying his debts with money; only by obedience to his own genius.
More by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We are always getting ready to live, but never living... The wave moves onward but the particles of which it is composed do not... It cannot be but that at intervals throughout society there are real men intermixed . . . as the carpenter puts one iron bar in his bannister for every five or six wooden ones.”
“Why should the way I feel depend on the thoughts in someone else's head?”
“For every seeing soul, there are two absorbing facts - I, and the abyss.”
More on Freedom
“Art is the set of wings to carry you out of your own entanglement.”
“One may gain political and social independence, but if one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom”
“I release all feelings of worry and guilt. Throughout life, the two most futile emotions are guilt for what has been done and worry about what might be done.”