There are always two parties, the party of the past and the party of the Future; the Establishment and the Movement...
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Society is split between those who want things to stay the same and those who want change.
- In plain terms
- There is always a fight between old and new.
- What can you take from it?
- Change and tradition clash constantly.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Which side are you on?
- How do you balance past and future?
Another view
The split is not always clear cut in real life.
More from Ralph Waldo Emerson
The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woo…
Permalink to quote #53 Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball…
Permalink to quote #55 The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is…
Permalink to quote #52
Related quotes
The two parties which divide the State, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since…
Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson quote #11 We have a lesbian president, and me as a member of parliament. Everything seems indeed possible.
Tony HalmeTony Halme quote #1 Revolutionaries themselves are the last people to realize when, through force of time and circumstance, they have gradually become conservatives. It is scarcel…
Constant LambertConstant Lambert quote #2