Ralph Waldo Emerson

The surest poison is time.

Every man believes that he has greater possibilities.

A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his companions by every word. Every opinion reacts on him who utters it. It is a threadball thrown at a mark, but the other end remains on the thrower.

The adventitious beauty of poetry may be felt in the greater delight with a verse given in a happy quotation than in the poem.

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

Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.

The poets aim is either to profit or to please, or to blend in one the delightful and the useful. Whatever the lesson you would convey, be brief, that your hearers may catch quickly what is said and faithfully retain it. Every superfluous word is spilled from the too-full memory.

Property is organized robbery.

O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

Most of the shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine.

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.

A man makes inferiors his superiors by heat; self-control is the rule.

Repartee is something we think of twenty-four hours too late.

Men who for truth and honor’s sake stand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while others sleep. Who dare while others fly.They build a nation’s pillars deep. And lift them to the sky.

Use every distraction as an object of meditation and they cease to be distractions.

Our strength grows out of our weakness.

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.

A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.