From "Ability" in English Traits (1856)

The Emerson quotations below are all taken from the essay "Ability", about English traits.

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Trolls or working brains, under the names of Alfred, Bede, . . . Newton, . . . Watt, . . . dwell in the troll-mounts of Britain. - Emerson

Singular fairness and its results strike the French with surprise. - Emerson

The Englishman wears a sensible coat buttoned to the chin, of rough but solid and lasting texture. If he is a lord, he dresses a little worse than a commoner. - Emerson

They think him the best dressed man, whose dress is so fit for his use that you cannot notice or remember to describe it. - Emerson

They have no Indian taste for a tomahawk-dance. - Emerson

All England will be drained, and rise a second time out of the waters. - Emerson

Steam is almost an Englishman. - Emerson

The nearer we look, the more artificial is their social system. - Emerson

All the people have good minds. - Emerson