To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Essays: Second Series, Experience (1844)
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When and why it was written
- When
- From the essay Experience, published in 1844, two years after the death of Emerson's young son.
- Why
- Emerson is arguing against waiting for life to begin somewhere further along.
What it means
Emerson wrote this in grief, which makes the instruction tender rather than glib. Each step is already an arrival.
The measure he offers is modest: not a great life, but many good hours.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Essays: Second Series, 1844
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