Ralph Waldo Emerson

I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I am not afraid of falling into my inkpot.

Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all the management of human affairs.

The wise know that foolish legislation is a rope of sand, which perishes in the twisting.

Beware what you set your heart upon. For it shall surely be yours.

The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.

We ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.

I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow.

I am a sky gazer. The sky, it pulls at me. Its amazing eternal expanse of breathtaking beauty calls me back to my senses, stretches my awareness, soothes my eyes, opens my heart, stills me. I feel a soft soul longing to be up there, in the vastness, amongst the clouds that are alive and billow and skud and glow; metamorphosing from perfection into perfection. A constantly changing canvas brushed by magic.

What is life but the angle of vision? A man is measured by the angle at which he looks at objects. What is life but what a man is thinking of all day? This is his fate and his employer. Knowing is the measure of the man. By how much we know, so much we are.

He that thinks he can afford to be negligent is not far from being poor.

One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve.

Make a good use of the present.

The eye is easily frightened.

For so many people, TV and movies may be the only way they understand people who aren’t like them. It becomes important for the world to see different images of each other, so that we can develop empathy and understanding.

Covetousness is the greatest of monsters, as well as the root of all evil.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Imagination is not a talent of some people but is the health of everyone.

Why should we be cowed by the name of Action?

Hitch your wagon to a star. Let us not fag in paltry works which serve our pot and bag alone.