Boone Fork Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway m. 296
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us or we find it not.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
American essayist, poet, and
leader of the Transcendentalist movement
Bass Lake, Biltmore Estates
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
AT crossing Roan balds
Emerson
“Make the most of yourself,
for that is all there is of you.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“Live in the sunshine,
swim the sea, drink the wild air…”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
Appalachian Trail crossing Beauty Spot
“Do not go where the path may lead,
go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
Yellow Mandarin, aka Fairy Bells (Disporum Ianuginosum)
“The only gift is a portion of thyself.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“This time, like all times, is a very good one,
if we but know what to do with it.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“What you do speaks so loud
that I cannot hear what you say.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“Give all to love; obey thy heart.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
This weekend is Homecoming at Milligan and my 15 year reunion
“It is one of the blessings of old friends
that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Earth laughs in flowers.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Azalea ready to bloom on Round Bald, looking toward Jane Bald, Roan Mountain
“Flowers… are a proud assertion
that a ray of beauty outvalues
all the utilities of the world.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844
“That book is good which puts me in a working mood.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“We take care of our health, we lay up our money,
we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient,
but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting
in the best property of all — friends.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“A sublime hope cheers ever the faithful heart,
that elsewhere, in other regions of the universal powers,
souls are now acting, enduring and daring,
which can love us, and which we can love.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
Elk River Falls, NC
“Self-sacrifice is the real miracle
out of which all the reported miracles grew.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
Rich Mountain, Madison County, NC
“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
Old Tweetsie Railroad, Doe River Gorge
“Whatever course you decide upon,
there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising which tempt you
to believe that your critics are right.
To map out a course of action
and follow it to an end requires…courage.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
View from the Creeper Trail near Green Cove
“The years teach much which the days never knew.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“The sun shines and warms and lights us and
we have no curiosity to know why this is so;
but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger,
and mosquitoes and silly people.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake
of dreaming that I am persecuted
whenever I am contradicted.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“Nature is too thin a screen;
the glory of the omnipresent God
bursts through everywhere.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
From These Hills 
