Ralph Waldo Emerson

Necessity does everything well.

Wherever work is done, victory is attained.

The German intellect wants the French sprightliness, the fine practical understanding of the English, and the American adventure; but it has a certain probity, which never rests in a superficial performance, but asks steadily, To what end? A German public asks for a controlling sincerity.

Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. This you cannot do without temperance.

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.

Reality is a sliding door.

You are braver than you believe. Stronger than you seem. And smarter than you think.

All history is a record of the power of minorities, and of minorities of one.

We judge of man’s wisdom by his hope.

If we want maturity, we have to be mature. If we want a nation that feels hopeful, then we have to speak in hopeful terms… We have to model what we want.

Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.

It is better to be frightened now than killed hereafter

If I cannot brag of knowing something, then I brag of not knowing it; at any rate, brag.

How real is any of the past, being every moment revalued to make the present possible.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

Having power is not nearly as important as what you choose to do with it.

I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west. We go eastward to realize history and study the works of art and literature, retracing the steps of the race; we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure.

If you try to please everybody, somebody’s not going to like it.

The only failure one should fear, is not hugging to the purpose they see as best.

To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man’s character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours.

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it come to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.