...some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject...conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, - and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets...

...wise men, to give this idea some big-name clout. In his famous essay, "Self-Reliance," Emerson writes, "To believe your own thought, to believe that what...private heart is true for all men — that is genius." When in doubt, turn to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Housework was a pleasant pastime. When my floor was dirty,...

...I think we finally can come to terms with Emerson's proclamation at the outset of "Self-Reliance": "To believe your own thought, to believe that what...private heart, is true for all men, — that is genius" (CW2, 27). The insistence startles because it rings with the kind of fanaticism I've been trying to...