“We boil at different degrees” comes from the opening paragraph of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Eloquence,” which was included in the collection “Society and Solitude,” published in 1870. Seven of the twelve essays included in “Society and Solitude” had been published before, though some of those were perennial Emerson themes he had re-worked. Emerson’s first “Eloquence” essay was published in 1847.

It is the doctrine of the popular music-masters, that whoever can speak can sing. So, probably, every man is eloquent once in his life. Our temperaments differ in capacity of heat, or we boil at different degrees.

One man is brought to the boiling point by the excitement of conversation in the parlor. The waters, of course, are not very deep. He has a two-inch enthusiasm, a patty-pan ebullition. Another requires the additional caloric of a multitude, and a public debate; a third needs an antagonist, or a hot indignation; a fourth needs a revolution; and a fifth, nothing less than the grandeur of absolute ideas, the splendors and shades of Heaven and Hell.

Emerson goes on to discuss eloquence - what inspires, disgusts and convinces, what helps us care and communicate.

Taken out of the context of Emerson’s time, “we boil at different degrees” works wonderfully as a simple affirmation of today’s diverse and interconnected world.

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Posted in Ralph Waldo Emerson

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