Daily Dose

From Emerson and Other Essays, by John Jay Chapman

THE WORLD

"The world of any moment is the merest appearance.  Some great decorum, some fetish of a government, some ephemeral trade, or war, or man, is cried up by half of mankind and cried down by the other half, as if all depended on this particular up or down.  The odds are the whole question is not worth the poorest thought which the scholar has lost in listening to the controversy."

From Emerson

Daily Dose

From The Selected Writings of John Jay Chapman, edited by Jacques Barzun

BUT

"But let no one think that dishonesty or anything else begins at the top.  These big business men were once little business men."

From Society

Daily Dose

From The Selected Essays of John Jay Chapman, edited with an introduction by Jacques Barzun

EMERSON

"While the radicals of Europe were revolting in 1848 against the abuses of tyranny whose roots were in feudalism, Emerson, the great radical of America, the arch-radical of the world, was revolting against the evils whose roots were in universal suffrage. By showing the identity in essence of all tyranny, and by bringing back the attention of political thinkers to it's starting-point, the value of the human character, he advanced the political thought of the world by one step. He has pointed out for us in this country to what end our efforts must be bent."

From Emerson