What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Searched here: the English text of Emerson’s Essays: First Series (Project Gutenberg #2944, the only work of his held in the atlas) for “tiny matters” and “what lies within us”: no match. Ralph Keyes, The Quote Verifier (2006), says no evidence can be found that Emerson said or wrote the words (as reported by Quote Investigator). Quote Investigator (2011, updated 2024) finds the earliest appearance in Meditations in Wall Street (New York: William Morrow, 1940), p. 131, “with an introduction by Albert Jay Nock”, first published anonymously: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” The New York Times named the author in 1947 as Henry S. Haskins, a Wall Street trader expelled from the Stock Exchange in 1910; the Library of Congress catalogue lists Haskins too. The saying was credited meanwhile to Nock, to William Morrow (Forbes, 1974), to Emerson (a Cal Poly president, 1980; Phil McGraw, 2001, in a changed wording), to Oliver Wendell Holmes (Stephen Covey, 1989) and to Thoreau (Dan Millman, preface to a 1993 book). The Walden Woods Project lists it among Thoreau misquotations and names Haskins. I could not see the 1940 book or the newspapers myself: every step rests on Quote Investigator’s citations.

1. March 1940Earliest found · credited to no onePublished anonymously in Meditations in Wall Street (William Morrow), with an introduction by Albert Jay Nock; the author’s name was withheld.What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.Meditations in Wall Street, by Anonymous (Henry Stanley Haskins), with an introduction by Albert Jay Nock (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1940), p. 131. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
2. 31 March 1940Spread · credited to no oneThe New York Times, reviewing the book, quotes the line as its main point; the author is still unknown.What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.New York Times, “Miscellaneous Brief Reviews: A Salty Philosophy”, 31 March 1940, p. 96. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
3. 11 May 1947Credited to Henry Stanley HaskinsThe New York Times names Henry S. Haskins as the author of the book when it prints another aphorism from it.New York Times, “Treasure Chest: Glory”, 11 May 1947, p. BR2. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
4. 15 February 1974Credited to William MorrowForbes prints the line in its “Thoughts on the Business of Life” and credits William Morrow, the publisher.Forbes, “Thoughts on the Business of Life”, 15 February 1974, p. 90. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
5. 15 June 1980Credited to Ralph Waldo EmersonThe earliest credit to Emerson that Quote Investigator found: a university president at a sports banquet.What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.Los Angeles Times, “NCAA Champions: 5 Broncos Taken in Baseball Draft”, by David LePage, 15 June 1980, p. SG1. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
6. 1989Spread · credited to Oliver Wendell HolmesStephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People gives the line as Oliver Wendell Holmes’s.Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Simon & Schuster, 1989; Fireside edition 1990), p. 96. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
7. 2001Reworded · credited to Ralph Waldo EmersonPhil McGraw credits Emerson with a changed wording.What lies behind us and what lies in front of us pales in comparison to what lies within us.Phillip C. McGraw, Relationship Rescue (Hyperion, 2001), p. 4. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source

One of the most repeated “Emerson quotes”: on graduation cards, in sports speeches and in self-help books. It is not in Emerson’s writings. The wording first appears in 1940 in an anonymous book of aphorisms, Meditations in Wall Street, whose author the publisher did not name; guesses credited it to the foreword writer, the publisher and later to Emerson, Thoreau and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Your inner resources matter more than your past or your future circumstances.

Credited to Emerson because its thought sounds like his trust in the self, and because a prestigious name made a good maxim more believable. Emerson did write kindred things (the same essay says that what a man can do is known only to him), but not these words.

Not Emerson’s sentence (nor Thoreau’s or Holmes’s). If you need his thought on the subject, cite Self-Reliance, for instance “Trust thyself”.

• The form on posters and social mediaWhat lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. The usual modern wording, credited to Emerson; “ahead of us” replaces the 1940 “before us”. Where it was seen
• Two passages run togetherWhat lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen. Extended with a second sentence and credited to Thoreau in a 1990s guidance book (Dan Millman), according to Quote Investigator; the Walden Woods Project lists it as a Thoreau misquotation. Where it was seen
• A misquotationWhat lies behind us and what lies in front of us pales in comparison to what lies within us. Phil McGraw, Relationship Rescue (2001), crediting Emerson, according to Quote Investigator. Where it was seen

Soul, Wisdom

• Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
• A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. (misattributed) Maya Angelou
• Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. (not found) Henry David Thoreau
• Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (not found) Maya Angelou
• Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. (misattributed)

• quoteinvestigator.com/2011/01/11/what-lies-within (Quote Investigator, 2011, updated 2024)
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson (Misattributed)

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. No. Henry Stanley Haskins wrote it, not Emerson. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/what-lies-behind-us-and-what-lies-before-us/ (checked 27 October 2026).

Have a different wording, or a source we missed? Check it or submit it.

Do you hold the rights to anything on this page? Tell us.