Ralph Waldo Emerson

The greatest homage we can pay truth is to use it.

The angels are so enamoured of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there be any who understand it or not.

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

Men are respectable only as they respect.

Do that which is assigned to you and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.

There is properly no history; only biography.

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.

Big doors swing on little hinges.

Don’t do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.

Never waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run.

Which is worse? The wolf who cries before eating the lamb or the wolf who does not.

The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me.

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.

The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character.

Personally, I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

Let us, if we must have great actions, make our own so. All action is of infinite elasticity, and the least admits of being inflated with celestial air, until it eclipses the sun and moon.

The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religious opinions.

That which builds is better than that which is built.

Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.