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Writer's pictureAndy Parker

A Nation's Strength - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A Nation's Strength" by Ralph Waldo Emerson


What makes a nation's pillars high

And its foundations strong?

What makes it mighty to defy

The foes that round it throng?


It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand

Go down in battle shock;

Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,

Not on abiding rock.


Is it the sword? Ask the red dust

Of empires passed away;

The blood has turned their stones to rust,

Their glory to decay.


And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown

Has seemed to nations sweet;

But God has struck its luster down

In ashes at his feet.


Not gold but only men can make

A people great and strong;

Men who for truth and honor's sake

Stand fast and suffer long.


Brave men who work while others sleep,

Who dare while others fly...

They build a nation's pillars deep

And lift them to the sky.

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