Whilst the world hangs before the eye as a cloud of beauty, we cannot even see its beauty.
 Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar (1838). copy citation

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Author Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source The American Scholar
Topic beauty eyes
Date 1838
Language English
Reference
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Weblink https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_American_Scholar

Context

“As far as this is true of the studious classes, it is not just and wise. Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it, he is not yet man.Without it, thought can never ripen into truth. Whilst the world hangs before the eye as a cloud of beauty, we cannot even see its beauty. Inaction is cowardice, but there can be no scholar without the heroic mind. The preamble of thought, the transition through which it passes from the unconscious to the conscious, is action. Only so much do I know, as I have lived.” source