II-Emerson Quiz

Quiz # II-Emerson Quiz

General: For Emerson, truth (or Spirit) is indwelling in the Universe, expressed through nature and man and perceived through Reason (or Intuition) rather than just understanding (reason, logic). All things are potentially microcosms, containing the germs of all Truth, and so are not to be read as logical arguments

Here are some quotes from “Self Reliance,” Choose one and explain what Emerson means in your own words in 500 words. Due at our next meeting-Oct. 31, 2013

1. “Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense”

2. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents.”

3. “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members.”

4. “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”

5. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin oflittle minds, [famous Emersonism] adored by little statements and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.”

6. “The centuries are conspirators against the sanity and authority of the soul.”

7. “Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose.” [another famous Emersonism]

8. “Just as men’s prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect. “

9. 10. “In the Will work and acquire, and thou has chained the wheel of Chance, and shalt sit thereafter out of fear from her rotations …. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” .

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