Ralph Waldo E.

"Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

He [She?] did just that two hundred & seven years ago this very day: May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. Rev. William [known as Bill to his buddies? ever?] Emerson and his good wife Ruth [Was she good? Probably it is witless assigning virtue to a long gone stranger just for the sake of rhythm. Ah well, why not? Good there was in her. That is an iron-clad conclusion. Let's hope she was content in her life as preacher's wife, widow...] welcomed there new son into the world. ["The world we live in," this child would grow up to say,"is but thickened light."] They named him Ralph [after an uncle] Waldo [the surname of a great-grandmother] Emerson and thin would be all of our Bartlett's and whatsoever other books of quotations without him. Well I know that there was more to R.W. E. than witticisms, nuggets, and well-conceived thought-provokers, but much there is to do apart from today's posting. Still, I'm going to make time to read some more about him, some of him, and tip my mental hat to him. I'll be the better for having done so.

For more info, do check out www.transcendentalists.com

To dip into his writings, do visit www.rwe.org

For a bit of quotation appreciation:

"Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can."

"Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend."

"Keep cool: it will all be one a hundred years hence."

Amen and onward.