“We are never without a pilot. When we know not how to steer,…”

“We are never without a pilot. When we know not how to steer, and dare not hoist a sail, we can drift. The current knows the way, though we do not. The ship of heaven guides itself, and will not accept a wooden rudder.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Verification

Attributed

Recorded by a reliable secondary source; exact wording may differ.

Imported from Wikiquote; not yet checked by QuoteQuest against the original source.

Source

Title: Wikiquote: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Type: reference · Secondary source
Held by: Wikiquote

View source at Wikiquote

Context

"The Sovereignty of Ethics", in The North America Review, no. 262 (May–June 1878) p. 407

Cite this source

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Ralph Waldo Emerson. Wikiquote. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

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Provenance: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA)