This feature will highlight books and authors on certain significant dates in history.  Today, May 25th, is Ralph Waldo Emerson‘s birthday. Born in 1803, Emerson is known best for his essays and for spearheading Transcendentalist thought in the United States. Read more. Emerson’s writings influenced thinkers such as Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau. He is perhaps best known for “Self-Reliance” and “Nature”. After attending the Harvard School of Divinity and acting as a minister in the 1820s, Emerson went abroad to Europe and on his return began giving talks about spirituality and ethics. Read more. Did you know? [Emerson’s] “concept of the Over-Soul—a Supreme Mind that every man and woman share—allowed Transcendentalists to disregard external authority and to rely instead on direct experience.” Read more. This focus on individuality goes hand-in-hand with Emerson’s urges to American writers to find literary independence and a writing style of their own. Read more.

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson Browse through Emerson’s works here.