Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.

The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers.

The less a man thinks or knows about his virtues, the better we like him.

We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital.

Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong.

Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.

Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view.

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for we all think we possess a good share of it.

For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent: his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil: for without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced.

Fame is proof that the people are gullible.

If a man will kick a fact out of the window, when he comes back he finds it again in the chimney corner.

In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.

I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

Let the stoics say what they please, we do not eat for the good of living, but because the meat is savory and the appetite is keen.

This is the foundation of all. We are not to imagine or suppose, but to discover, what nature does or may be made to do.

You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.

I’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.

Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.

Write without pay until somebody offers to pay you. If nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.