“ Virtue is the adherence in action to the nature of things, and the nature of things makes it prevalent. ”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Spiritual Laws (1841). copy citation
| Author | Ralph Waldo Emerson |
|---|---|
| Source | Spiritual Laws |
| Topic | action virtue |
| Date | 1841 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | in "Essays: First Series" |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essays:_First_Series/Spiritual_Laws |
Context
“On the other hand, the hero fears not, that, if he withhold the avowal of a just and brave act, it will go unwitnessed and unloved. One knows it, — himself, — and is pledged by it to sweetness of peace, and to nobleness of aim, which will prove in the end a better proclamation of it than the relating of the incident. Virtue is the adherence in action to the nature of things, and the nature of things makes it prevalent. It consists in a perpetual substitution of being for seeming, and with sublime propriety God is described as saying, I AM.
The lesson which these observations convey is, Be, and not seem. Let us acquiesce.”
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