...than the rule. There is the man and his virtues. Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine...and the insane pay a high board. Their virtues are penances.-^0 Keeping in mind that Emerson's choice of terms and comparisons reflect his times, this...

...than the rule. There is the man and his virtues. Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine...as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world,--as invalids and the insane pay a high board. Their virtues are penances. I do not wish to expiate,...

...be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways" [Wa 2]. Emerson wrote in "SelfReliance" that man's "virtues are penances. I do not wish to expiate, but to live." 12 Rajah Rammohun Roy's (ca. 1772-1833) Translation of Several Principal Books, Passages, and Texts...

...than the rule. There is the man and his virtues. Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine...I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine...

...regard deferral to our involuntary perceptions as an indulgence. But Emerson will have nothing of this: "I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself, and not for a spectacle. ... I cannot consent to pay for a privilege where I have an intrinsic...

...than the rule. There is the man and his virtues. Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine...I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine...