We, as we read, must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner; must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
About This Quote

We, as we read, must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner; must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly. - Thomas Carlyle The quote is talking about the importance of reading in order to understand the world around you. It is about becoming someone else, something that you aren't currently. When reading, you are taking on the role of another person's life experience.

You can choose to become a beggar or a king; it's your choice. The quote is urging its readers to look beyond themselves and their current situation in order to properly understand the world around them.

Source: The Essays Of Ralph Waldo Emerson

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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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