Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are born believing. A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples.

Columbus discovered no isle or key so lonely as himself.

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.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

The triumphs of peace have been in some proximity to war. Whilst the hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, whilst the habits of the camp were still visible in the port and complexion of the gentleman, his intellectual power culminated; the compression and tension of these stern conditions is a training for the finest and softest arts, and can rarely be compensated in tranquil times, except by some analogous vigor drawn from occupations as hardy as war.

Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.

What drives me to be who I am, to do all that I do, is not what words will be engraved for my epitaph. What drives me to be who I am, to do what I do, is not vanity, is not for adulation in the eyes of others. What drives me is my own desire to be better; to be happy. When I am dead and buried, the words above will not bring me back to life, I choose to live out my epitaph, and not just for it to be a collection of words someone has chosen to define me.

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

The test of a man or woman’s breeding is how they behave in a quarrel.

To say that a man is your Friend, means commonly no more than this, that he is not your enemy. Most contemplate only what would be the accidental and trifling advantages of Friendship, as that the Friend can assist in time of need by his substance, or his influence, or his counsel. Even the utmost goodwill and harmony and practical kindness are not sufficient for Friendship, for Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody.

Already know you that which you need.

Valor consists in the power of self recovery.

I think a compliment ought to always precede a complaint, where one is possible, because it softens resentment and insures for the complaint a courteous and gentle reception.

Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to be quite true.

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

We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.

The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid loss, and unpayable. But the sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all facts.

As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.

He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father’s wisdom than he who has a great deal left him does to his father’s care.

It requires a great deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune, and when you have it, it requires ten times as much skill to keep it.