Ralph Waldo Emerson

In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.

It is very easy in the world to live by the opinion of the world. It is very easy in solitude to be self-centered. But the finished man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world.

The thirst for adventure is the vent which Destiny offers; a war, a crusade, a gold mine, a new country, speak to the imagination and offer swing and play to the confined powers.

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

There is no one who does not exaggerate!

Preaching is the expression of moral sentiments applied to the duties of life.

The Athanasian Creed is to me light and intelligible reading in comparison with much that now passes for science.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

There is no distinctly American criminal class – except Congress.

Principles aren’t of much account anyway, except at election time. After that you hang them up to let them season.

Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.

If you strike a child, take care that you strike it in anger, even at the risk of maiming it for life. A blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven.

The greatest evils and the worst of crimes is poverty; our first duty, a duty to which every other consideration should be sacrificed, is not to be poor.

No two men can be half an hour together but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.

A man thinks as well through his legs and arms as this brain.

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.

Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.

What is the imagination? Only an arm or weapon of the interior energy; only the precursor of the reason.

You don’t get respect if you don’t deserve it

One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.