The line 'If eyes are made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for being' is attributed to which writer?

• A. Henry David Thoreau
• B. Walt Whitman
• C. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• D. Nathaniel Hawthorne

Answer: (C)

This line captures a belief that beauty exists to be perceived and that the act of seeing gives meaning to what we behold. Ralph Waldo Emerson frequently expressed this kind of idea, tying perception, nature, and truth together in concise, memorable statements. As a leading figure of Transcendentalism, he argued that the world reveals its significance directly to the mind that attentively observes it, so beauty becomes meaningful in itself simply by being noticed. That crisp, self-justifying view of beauty—“beauty is its own excuse for being”—is characteristic of Emerson’s style and philosophy, which is why this attribution fits best. While the other writers you mentioned explored nature and human experience in different ways, this particular line aligns most closely with Emerson’s emphasis on perception as a pathway to insight.