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Mankind Divides Itself Into Two Classes,--benefactors And Malefactors. The Second Class Is Vast; The First A Handful.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Mankind Divides Itself Into

Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Mankind Divides Itself Into Two Classes,--benefactors And Malefactors. The Second Class Is Vast; The First A Handful.

Understanding the Quote: "mankind divides itself into two classes,--benefactors and malefactors. the second class is..."

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects deeply on the theme of class. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Class, Two, Firsts, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Ralph Waldo Emerson interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson is celebrated for insightful thoughts on class and two. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Class
Two
Firsts
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The Inquiry Leads Us To That Source, At Once The Essence Of Genius, Of Virtue, And Of Life, Which We Call Spontaneity Or Instinct.
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When It's Darkest, Men See The Stars.
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Encouragement
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The Secret Of Drunkenness Is, That It Insulates Us In Thought, Whilst It Unites Us In Feeling.
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Consistency Is The Bugbear That Frightens Little Minds.
Consistency
Mind
Littles
Nature Suffers Nothing To Remain In Her Kingdom Which Cannot Help Itself.
Self Reliance
Suffering
Kingdoms
The Element Running Through Entire Nature, Which We Popularly Call Fate, Is Known To Us As Limitation. Whatever Limits Us, We Callfate.
Running
Fate
Elements
It Is The Last Lesson Of Modern Science, That The Highest Simplicity Of Structure Is Produced, Not By Few Elements, But By The Highest Complexity.
Science
Simplicity
Elements
Language Is A City, To The Building Of Which Every Human Being Brought A Stone; Yet He Is No More To Be Credited With The Grand Result Than The Acaleph Which Adds A Cell To The Coral Reef Which Is The Basis Of The Continent.
Cells
Cities
Add
Every Burned Book Enlightens The World.
Book
World
Censorship
[w]e Pity Our Fathers For Dying Before Steam And Galvanism, Sulphuric Ether And Ocean Telegraphs, Photograph And Spectrograph Arrived, As Cheated Out Of Their Human Estate.
Father
Ocean
Science
The Only Thing That Can Grow Is The Thing You Give Energy To.
Leadership
Giving
Energy
Very Idle Is All Curiosity Concerning Other People's Estimate Of Us, And All Fear Of Remaining Unknown Is Not Less So.
People
Curiosity
Importance
Yet Things Are Knowable! They Are Knowable, Because, Being From One, Things Correspond. There Is A Scale: And The Correspondence Of Heaven To Earth, Of Matter To Mind, Of The Part To The Whole, Is Our Guide. As There Is A Science Of Stars, Called Astronomy; And Science Of Quantities, Called Mathematics; A Science Of Qualities, Called Chemistry; So There Is A Science Of Sciences,--i Call It Dialectic,--which Is The Intellect Discriminating The False And The True.
Stars
Knowledge
Heaven
The Hero Sees That The Event Is Ancillary: It Must Follow Him.
Hero
Events
Heroines
Ethics And Religion Differ Herein; That The One Is The System Of Human Duties Commencing From Man; The Other, From God. Religion Includes The Personality Of God; Ethics Does Not.
Men
Personality
Religion
"in The Woods We Return To Reason And Faith. There I Feel That Nothing Can Befall Me In Life~~no Disgrace, No Calamity (leaving Me My Eyes), Which Nature Cannot Repair."
Nature
Eye
Leaving
New York Is A Sucked Orange.
New York
Orange
Manners Require Time, And Nothing Is More Vulgar Than Haste.
Time
Cynical
Haste
Every Man Is A Quotation From All His Ancestors.
Men
Heirlooms
Forests
Man Is Priest, And Scholar, And Statesman, And Producer, And Soldier. In The Divided Or Social State These Functions Are Parcelled Out To Individuals, Each Of Whom Aims To Do His Stint Of The Joint Work, Whilst Each Other Performs His.
Men
Soldier
Joints
A Friend May Be Nature's Most Magnificent Creation.
May
Creation
Magnificent
Everything Intercepts Us From Ourselves.
Alienation
Intervention
I Wish That Friendship Should Have Feet, As Well As Eyes And Eloquence. It Must Plant Itself On The Ground, Before It Vaults Overthe Moon. I Wish It To Be A Little Of A Citizen, Before It Is Quite A Cherub.
Friendship
Eye
Moon
It Is Very Certain That The Strong British Race Which Has Now Overrun Much Of This Continent, Must Also Overrun [texas], And Mexico And Oregon Also, And It Will In The Course Of Ages Be Of Small Import By What Particular Occasions And Methods It Was Done.
Strong
Race
Texas
There Is Never A Beginning, There Is Never An End, To The Inexplicable Continuity Of This Web Of God, But Always Circular Power Returning Into Itself.
God
Power
Ends
Live In The Fields, And God Will Give You Lectures On Natural Philosophy Every Day.
Philosophy
Giving
Tree
Women Stand Related To Beautiful Nature Around Us, And The Enamoured Youth Mixes Their Form With Moon And Stars, With Woods And Waters, And The Pomp Of Summer. They Heal Us Of Awkwardness By Their Words And Looks. We Observe Their Intellectual Influence On The Most Serious Student. They Refine And Clear His Mind: Teach Him To Put A Pleasing Method Into What Is Dry And Difficult.
Beautiful
Summer
Stars
Life Is A Series Of Surprises.
Life
Anticipation
Surprise
Peace Cannot Be Achieved Through Violence, It Can Only Be Attained Through Understanding.
Inspirational
Spiritual
Peace
The Louder He Talked Of His Honor, The Faster We Counted Our Spoons.
Truth
Lying
Character
There Will Always Be In Society Certain Persons Who Are Mercuries Of Its Approbation, And Whose Glance Will At Any Time Determinefor The Curious Their Standing In The World. These Are The Chamberlains Of The Lesser Gods. Accept Their Coldness As An Omen Of Grace With The Loftier Deities, And Allow Them All Their Privilege.
Grace
World
Mercury
When We Have Broken Our God Of Tradition, And Ceased From Our God Of Rhetoric, Then May God Fire The Heart With His Presence.
God
Heart
Fire
I Suppose Every Old Scholar Has Had The Experience Of Reading Something In A Book Which Was Significant To Him, But Which He Could Never Find Again. Sure He Is That He Read It There, But No One Else Ever Read It, Nor Can He Find It Again, Though He Buy The Book And Ransack Every Page.
Book
Reading
Pages
I Consider Theology To Be The Rhetoric Of Morals.
Moral
Rhetoric
Theology
My Own Mind Is The Direct Revelation Which I Have From God And Far Least Liable To Mistake In Telling His Will Of Any Revelation.
Mistake
Mind
Revelations
The Action Of The Soul Is Oftener In That Which Is Felt And Left Unsaid Than In That Which Is Said In Any Conversation. It Broods Over Every Society, And Men Unconsciously Seek For It In Each Other.
Men
Soul
Action
Solvency Is Maintained By Means Of A National Debt, On The Principle, "if You Will Not Lend Me The Money, How Can I Pay You?"
Money
Mean
Conceited
Life Is Girt All Round With A Zodiac Of Sciences, The Contributions Of Men Who Have Perished To Add Their Point Of Light To Our Sky. ... These Road-makers On Every Hand Enrich Us. We Must Extend The Area Of Life And Multiply Our Relations. We Are As Much Gainers By Finding A Property In The Old Earth As By Acquiring A New Planet.
Science
Men
Light
Our Culture, Therefore, Must Not Omit The Arming Of The Man. Let Him Hear In Season, That He Is Born Into The State Of War, And That The Commonwealth And His Own Well-being Require That He Should Not Go Dancing In The Weeds Of Peace, But Warned, Self- Collected, And Neither Defying Nor Dreading The Thunder, Let Him Take Both Reputation And Life In His Hand, And, With Perfect Urbanity, Dare The Gibbet And The Mob By The Absolute Truth Of His Speech, And The Rectitude Of His Behaviour.
Weed
War
Men
The Cold, Inconsiderate Of Persons, Tingles Your Blood, Benumbs Your Feet, Freezes A Man Like An Apple.
Men
Blood
Apples
The Highest Virtue Is Always Against The Law.
Law
Virtue
Highest
Conformity Is The Ape Of Harmony.
Peace
Apes
Conformity
The City Is Recruited From The Country.
Country
Cities
If We Consider What Happens In Conversation, In Reveries, In Remorse, In Times Of Passion, In Surprises, In The Instructions Of Dreams, Wherein Often We See Ourselves In Masquerade,--the Droll Disguises Only Magnifying And Enhancing A Real Element, And Forcing It On Our Distinct Notice,--we Shall Catch Many Hints That Will Broaden And Lighten Into Knowledge Of The Secret Of Nature.
Dream
Real
Passion
Do Not You See That Every Misfortune Is Misconduct; That Every Honour Is Desert; That Every Effort Is An Insolence Of Your Own?...you Carry Your Fortune In Your Own Hand.
Self
Hands
Effort
Give Me Truths For I Am Weary Of The Surfaces.
Giving
Surface
Weary
A Man Of Thought Must Feel The Thought That Is Parent Of The Universe: That The Masses Of Nature Do Undulate And Flow.
Men
Parent
Flow
Though We Travel The World Over To Find The Beautiful, We Must Carry It With Us, Or We Find It Not. The Best Of Beauty Is A Finer Charm Than Skill In Surfaces, In Outlines, Or Rules Of Art Can Ever Teach, Namely, A Radiation From The Work Of Art Of Human Character, — A Wonderful Expression Through Stone, Or Canvas, Or Musical Sound, Of The Deepest And Simplest Attributes Of Our Nature, And Therefore Most Intelligible At Last To Those Souls Which Have These Attributes.
Beautiful
Art
Character
Courage Of The Soldier Awakes The Courage Of Woman.
Courage
Soldier
When Friendships Are Real, They Are Not Glass Threads Or Frost-work , But The Solidest Thing We Know.
Life
Real
Glasses
It Is Noticed, That The Consideration Of The Great Periods And Spaces Of Astronomy Induces A Dignity Of Mind, And An Indifferenceto Death.
Space
Mind
Dignity
I Pack My Trunk, Embrace My Friends, Embark On The Sea And At Last Wake Up In Naples, And There Beside Me Is The Stern Fact, The Sad Self, Unrelenting, Identical, That I Fled From.
Motivational
Travel
Memorable
Be Lord Of A Day, Through Wisdom And Justice, And You Can Put Up Your History Books.
Wisdom
Book
History
Nature Is Upheld By Antagonism.
Antagonism
Sentimentalists ... Adopt Whatever Merit Is In Good Repute, And Almost Make It Hateful With Their Praise. The Warmer Their Expressions, The Colder We Feel.... Cure The Drunkard, Heal The Insane, Mollify The Homicide, Civilize The Pawnee, But What Lessons Can Be Devised For The Debauchee Of Sentiment?
Expression
Insane
Lessons
We Are Not Free To Use Today, Or To Promise Tomorrow, Because We Are Already Mortgaged To Yesterday.
Past
Yesterday
Promise
The Civility Of The World Has Reached That Pitch That Their More Moral Genius Is Becoming Indispensable, And The Quality Of This Race Is To Be Honored For Itself.
Race
Quality
Genius
Every Natural Fact Is A Symbol Of Some Spiritual Fact.
Spiritual
Soul
Gardening
The Right Merchant Is One Who Has The Just Average Of Faculties We Call Common Sense; A Man Of A Strong Affinity For Facts, Who Makes Up His Decision On What He Has Seen. He Is Thoroughly Persuaded Of The Truths Of Arithmetic. There Is Always A Reason, In The Man, For His Good Or Bad Fortune In Making Money. Men Talk As If There Were Some Magic About This. He Knows That All Goes On The Old Road, Pound For Pound, Cent For Cent - For Every Effect A Perfect Cause - And That Good Luck Is Another Name For Tenacity Of Purpose.
Inspirational
Strong
Business
Love Is The Essence Of God.
Love You
Love Is
Essence
Only By The Supernatural Is A Man Strong--only By Confiding In The Divinity Which Stirs Within Us. Nothing Is So Weak As An Egotist--nothing Is Mightier Than We, When We Are Vehicles Of A Truth Before Which The State And The Individual Are Alike Ephemeral.
Strong
Men
Divinity
In Conversation The Game Is, To Say Something New With Old Words. And You Shall Observe A Man Of The People Picking His Way Along, Step By Step, Using Every Time An Old Boulder, Yet Never Setting His Foot On An Old Place.
Time
Men
Feet
The End Of The Human Race Will Be That It Will Eventually Die Of Civilization.
Life
Peace
War
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