There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. Ralph Waldo Emerson
About This Quote

This quote is a beautiful and inspiring example of perseverance and the will to succeed. Douglass was a slave who was freed by an act of Congress. His life has been one of great strength and courage, but his will to succeed is what contributed to his success. When Douglass was a young man he wrote this about his future: "As for myself, I can look forward with hope; for I know that God gives men all things necessary for themselves and their race." From that time on, he worked hard and became one of the most influential men in America.

Source: Self Reliance

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More Quotes By Ralph Waldo Emerson
  1. Love, and you shall be loved.
  2. He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses.
  3. The Artist always has the masters in his eyes.
  4. Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
  5. It is not the length of life, but the depth.
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