"There is a mortifying experience in particular,..." - Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history; I mean "the foolish face of praise," the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease, in answer to conversation which does not interest us. The muscles, not spontaneously moved but moved, by a low usurping wilfulness, grow tight about the outline of the face, with the most disagreeable sensation.
More by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“And what avails it that science has come to treat space and time as simply forms of thought, and the material world as hypothetical, and withal our pretension of property and even of self-hood are fading with the rest, if, at last, even our thoughts are not finalities, but the incessant flowing and ascension reach these also, and each thought which yesterday was a finality, to-day is yielding to a larger generalization?”
“Only that is poetry which cleanses and mans me.”
“Never read any book that is not a year old.”
More on Authenticity
“nothing puts me so completely out of patience as the utterance of a wretched commonplace when I am talking from my inmost heart.”
“Self-expression is a hallmark of an artist, of art, to get something off one's chest, to sing one's song. So that element is present in all art. It is the key to even standing up and saying, "Hey, listen to me." Self-expression can be based on looking at the world and making observations about it.”
“I desire that there be as many different persons in the world as possible; I would have each one be very careful to find out and preserve his own way.”