Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
- Source
- Nature
- Date
- 1836
Meaning of “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see…”
Emerson connects wisdom with renewed attention, suggesting that curiosity does not always require exotic objects because ordinary experience becomes remarkable when examined closely.
Where does it come from?
Nature (first published 1836), Chapter VIII, “Prospects,” in James Munroe and Company’s 1849 new-edition witness represented by Project Gutenberg #29433. “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common” appears near the essay’s close during Emerson’s discussion of prayer, study, facts and ideas. This collection retains 1836 as first-publication year while the evidence layer identifies the reviewed 1849 witness; the sentence remains Transcendentalist philosophical rhetoric rather than an experimentally established measure of wisdom.
