Peter Y. Chou      GRDS-92: Page Layout & Graphic Design      #3- Typography Design 5-18-94

Prof. Kent Manske handed out to the class a sheet of 26 Quotes from "Art" to "Zeal" from the June 1980 issue of Upper & Lower Case, the International Journal of Typographics. We were asked to select the font and page layout that would best represent the idea in the quote.

I selected Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote on Power— “No man ever forgot the visitations of that power to his heart and brain, which created all things new; which was the dawn in him of music, poetry, and art.” because I'm fond of Emerson's philosophical outlook on life as reflected in his Journals & Essays. In this quote on Power, Emerson focuses on not physical or military power, but on spiritual power that visits our heart in the form of the arts.

Here are some other quotes on Spiritual Power:

“All power is of one kind, a sharing of the nature of
 the world. The mind that is parallel with the laws of nature
 will be in the current of events, and strong with their strength.”
— Emerson, Essay on “Power” in Conduct of Life (1860)

“Poetry Painting & Music the three Powers in Man
 of conversing with Paradise which the flood did not Sweep away.”
— William Blake, A Vision of the Last Judgment (1810)

“It is a natural law that wisdom and great power attract each other.”
— Plato, Epistles II.310e

“If justice be power as well as knowledge— then will not
 the soul which has both knowledge and power be the more just.”
— Plato, Hippias Minor, 375e

“Power is the most beautiful of things...
 that wisdom is the most beautiful...
 those who do what they do, all have the power to do it.”
— Plato, Hippias Major, 296

“Superior power is never powerful, thus it has power.
 Inferior power is always powerful, thus it has no power.
 Superior power never acts yet leaves nothing undone.
 Inferior power acts but there are things left undone.”
— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, XXXVIII

After experimenting with various type fonts in bold, I selected Medici Script
for the Emerson quote on Power, because the Medici family symbolized financial
& political power in Florence but also they were the patrons of the arts.
The Renaissance period in Florence was a blossoming of poetry, music, & art.
I selected Trajan Bold for the Quote heading because the Trajan typeface
appears on the Roman column symbolizing power of the Emperor but also
because it has a long historical tradition.

Top of Page || Emerson on Power || "Power Quote" Poem || Power Quote Illustrator