Whats the meaning of this aphorism?

Question

Good and bad are but very readily transferable to that or this; the only wrong what is against it.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Can you please double-check the last clause?  It's ungrammatical, and therefore illogical.  (perhaps "they" in place of "the"?  -   and more?)

CalifJim · Answer

LolaxGood and bad are but very readily transferable to that or this; the only wrong what is against it.

What you have here is a misquotation from Emerson's Self-Reliance.

Here is the correct quote:

Good and bad are names but readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong what is against it.
In the passage in which this remark occurs, Emerson is saying that the people around you may apply the labels "good" and "bad" to one thing or another, but what's more important is to think for yourself, to test out these ideas against your own experience. If the labels don't make sense based on your own experience, you have to reject them and rely on yourself to make these judgments.
CJ

Avangi · Answer

Thanks, CJ. I often work to reassure myself that Emerson was an American.  Were he not a favorite author of my favorite professor, I'd give up on him entirely.

CalifJim · Answer

AvangiI often work to reassure myself that Emerson was an American.

Because his outlook is more European, in your opinion???

CJ

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