Ralph Waldo Emerson

What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul’s emphasis is always right.

Raphael paints wisdom; Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakespeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it.

I look on that man as happy, who, when there is question of success, looks into his work for a reply.

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.

Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.

The chief mourner does not always attend the funeral.

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?

When you ascend the hill of prosperity, may you not meet a friend.

Poverty is often concealed in splendor, and often in extravagance. It is the task of many people to conceal their neediness from others. Consequently they support themselves by temporary means, and everyday is lost in contriving for tomorrow.

Men lose their tempers in defending their taste.

The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another.

If I had no duties, and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman.

I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, that will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered.

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.

Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.

A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to geld his own pigs. A Judge may play a little at cards for his own amusement; but he is not to play at marbles, or chuck farthing in the Piazza.

I want to be free; to escape. I use my pen as oars; the paper as my boat. I fill these pages to keep me afloat. I ride the waves of turmoil, so I can paddle away to calmer seas.

We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body.

Everyone has the right to be stupid on occasion, but Comrade Macdonald abuses the privilege.

Tread softly, Breathe peacefully, Laugh hysterically.