Ralph Waldo Emerson

The secret in education lies in respecting the student.

To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.

We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected

It makes a great difference in the force of a sentence, whether a man be behind it or no.

Life is a series of surprises and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.

The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic.

The method of nature: who could ever analyze it?

I was exceedingly delighted with the waltz, and also with the polka. These differ in name, but there the difference ceases

Laughter is the greatest weapon we have and we, as humans, use it the least.

Money is the most important thing in the world. It represents health, strength, honor, generosity, and beauty as conspicuously as the want of it represents illness, weakness, disgrace, meanness, and ugliness.

Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.

Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.

Love has features which pierce all hearts, he wears a bandage which conceals the faults of those beloved. He has wings, he comes quickly and flies away the same.

If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire.

We must substitute courage for caution.

It’s not the adversity, but how you face it.

Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.

One may make their house a palace of sham, or they can make it a home, a refuge.

I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works. An assault upon a town is a bad thing; but starving it is still worse.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

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