"It is easy to see that the existing generation are conspiring with a beneficence, which, in its working for coming generations, sacrifices the passing one, which infatuates the most selfish men to act against their private interest for the public welfare. We build railroads, we know not for what or for whom; but one thing is certain, that we who build will receive the very smallest share of benefit. Benefit will accrue; they are essential to the country, but that will be felt not until we are no longer countrymen. We do the like in all matters: — 'Man's heart the Almighty to the Future set By secret and inviolable springs.'"
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Academics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United States19th-century philosophersRomantic poetsEssayists from the United States
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803 – 1882
US-amerikanischer Philosoph und Dichter
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