Ralph Waldo Emerson

Higher than the question of our duration is the question of our deserving. Immortality will come to such as are fit for it, and he would be a great soul in future must be a great soul now.

The value of a principle is the number of things it will explain; and there is no good theory of disease which does not at once suggest a cure.

The education of the will is the object of our existence.

The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature.

Some natures are too good to be spoiled by praise.

The reason why men do not obey us is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye.

A sudden bold and unexpected question does many times surprise a man and lay him open.

The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity… The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Love is indeed Heaven upon Earth; since Heaven above would not be Heaven without it: For where there is not Love; there is Fear: But perfect Love casts out Fear. And yet we naturally fear most to offend what we most Love. What we Love, we’ll Hear; what we Love, we’ll Trust; and what we Love, we’ll serve, ay, and suffer for too. If you love me (says our Blessed Redeemer) keep my Commandments. Why? Why then he’ll Love us; then we shall be his Friends; then he’ll send us the Comforter; then whatsoever we ask, we shall receive; and then where he is we shall be also, and that for ever. Behold the Fruits of Love; the Power, Vertue, Benefit and Beauty of Love! Love is above all; and when it prevails in us all, we shall all be Lovely, and in Love with God and one with another.

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

The idea of perfection always gives one a chance to talk without knowing facts.

Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.

How hard you work matters more than how much you make.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lift human life above the level of farce and give it some of the grace of tragedy.

The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.

Clogged with yesterday’s excess, the body drags the mind down with it.

On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend’s life also, in our own, to the world.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the airplane, the pessimist the parachute.

Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.