a
reference to a proposed
law in the
essay Compensation, written by
American author, poet and
philosopher, Ralph Waldo
Emerson (1803–1882).
Emerson writes of what he calls the "
law of
compensation" where everything has its opposite, every
action has its reaction, etc. For
example, he
states, "Every sweet
hath its sour; every
evil its good," as well as "For every thing you have
missed, you have gained something else; and for every thing you gain, you
lose something."