Ralph Waldo Emerson: Blameless Livelihood
on Wednesday, October 25, 2017Ralph Waldo Emerson Money Quote saying our society must provide every capable person with a means to earn their living and provide for their families without turning to criminal means. Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
“He is no whole man until he knows how to earn a blameless livelihood. Society is barbarous, until every industrious man can get his living without dishonest customs” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson seems to be making two key points:
- That a person cannot truly realize their full humanity or wholeness until they have gained the ability to earn an honest living through legitimate work or livelihood.
- That society itself remains primitive or “barbarous” so long as any industrious person is unable to make an ethical living through their industry and hard work alone, instead having to resort to “dishonest customs” like corruption or illicit work to survive.
Overall, Emerson appears to be arguing for the importance of enabling all driven, working individuals the means of supporting themselves respectably through their dedicated labor, free from impropriety out of necessity.
The quote conveys Emerson’s view that both individuals and societies can only become fully developed or civilized when basic conditions allow all people to earn their way in life through upright conduct and effort rather than due to deficient social/economic systems that force some into dishonesty to live.