Transcendentalism Quotes

If you look up any standard dictionary for the word 'transcendentalism' then this is what you will get to know, "Any philosophy based upon the doctrine that the principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of the process of thought, or a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical". In simple terms transcendentalism is a group of ideas or rather new ideas in philosophy and literature which started in the New England or the northeastern part of United States during the period between the early and middle 19th century. It was a movement which was started in order to protest against the cultural and social condition.

The people who followed this theory of American Transcendentalism were known as the Transcendentalists and they were seen as a group of people who were well educated and who rebelled against the present situation of their land (during the 19th century) and who were searching for something different, something motivating not only for the people during that period but also for the future generation. Here are some of the famous transcendentalism quotes that have been used time and again by some of the famous transcendentalists.

Famous Transcendentalists

There were several famous transcendentalists who became involved in several social as well as cultural issues of the state, such as fight against slavery, or women issues, rights of the African Americans and so on. Besides the men, there were women transcendentalists too who fought for the same cause as their male counterparts; an American identity which will be separate from the other European nations including England. Here are some of the famous transcendentalists:

• Ralph Waldo Emerson (He was the one who started the whole concept of transcendentalism)
• Henry David Thoreau
• Herman Melville
• Walt Whitman
• Margaret Fuller and several others.

Let us now take a look at some of the quotes about nature as well as other important parts of the human life by Thoreau and others.

Famous Quotes

Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Thoreau

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. ~ Thoreau

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. ~ Emerson

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. ~ Emerson

As we lay huddled together under the tent, which leaked considerably about the sides, with our baggage at our feet, we listened to some of the grandest thunder which I ever heard, - rapid peals, round and plump, bang, bang, bang in succession, like artillery from some fortress in the sky; and the lightning was proportionally brilliant. The Indian said, 'It must be good powder.' All for the benefit of the moose and us, echoing far over the concealed lakes. ~ Thoreau

A man is wise with the wisdom of his time only, and ignorant with its ignorance. ~ Thoreau

Allow yourself to trust joy and embrace it. You will find you dance with everything. ~ Emerson

The only way to have a friend is to be one. ~ Emerson

It is never too late to give up your prejudices. ~ Thoreau

Nature provides exceptions to every rule. ~ Margaret Fuller

Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman. ~ Margaret Fuller

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. ~ Louisa May Alcott

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity. ~ Thoreau

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. ~ Margaret Fuller

The especial genius of women I believe to be electrical in movement, intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency. ~ Margaret Fuller

To be great is to be misunderstood. ~ Emerson

When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it. ~ Emerson

Anti-transcendentalism Quotes

These were some of the famous Emerson, Fuller, and Thoreau quotes which had changed the lives of many.

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. ~ Herman Melville

Nature is vast and incomprehensible, a reflection of the struggle between good and evil. ~ Anonymous

Belief in individual truths, but no universal truths, and the truths of existence are deceitful and disturbing. ~ Anonymous

As the moral gloom of the world overpowers all systematic gaiety, even so was their home of wild mirth made desolate amid the sad forest. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

These were some of the quotes made by some of the most famous transcendentalists of that time. There are more such famous quotes which you can find out from various textbooks. These are some quotes which had resolved several social issues as well as cultural issues and had created a new identity for the America.