Ralph Waldo Emerson

The wise know that foolish legislation is a rope of sand, which perishes in the twisting.

The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.

The greatest genius is the most indebted person.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

If a man knew anything, he would sit in a corner and be modest; but he is such an ignorant peacock, that he goes bustling up and down, and hits on extraordinary discoveries.

It is a lesson which all history teaches wise men, to put trust in ideas, and not in circumstances.

I think I can say, and say with pride, that we have some legislatures that bring higher prices than any in the world.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye, while if something affects your soul you postpone the cure until next year?

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.

I think that age is irrelevant. We’re all pretty much spiritual beings – I consider myself to be about eighty-five. I feel like I’m ancient, like two thousand years old.

Tis the old secret of the gods that they come in low disguises.

Tobacco and opium have broad backs, and will cheerfully carry the load of armies, if you choose to make them pay high for such joy as they give and such harm as they do.

Their learning is like bread in a besieged town: every man gets a little, but no man gets a full meal.

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.

I hold every man a debtor to his profession.

A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.

To see helpless infancy stretching out her hands, and pouring out her cries in testimony of dependence, without any powers to alarm jealousy, or any guilt to alienate affection, must surely awaken tenderness in every human mind; and tenderness once excited will be hourly increased by the natural contagion of felicity, by the repercussion of communicated pleasure, by the consciousness of dignity of benefaction.

Remember where you came from.

If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.