Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man’s wife has more power over him than the state has.

The moment we indulge our affections, the earth is metamorphosed, there is no winter and no night; all tragedies, all ennui s, vanish, all duties even.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

We lie in the lap of immense intelligence.

To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

It does not need that a poem should be long. Every word was once a poem. Every new relationship is a new word.

Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o clock is a scoundrel.

Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant’s truce between virtue and vice.

I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my other senses I might blind my soul altogether.

In the arts of life man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery all the slaughter of plague, pestilence, and famine.

Farmers are respectable and interesting to me in proportion as they are poor.

It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races.

Always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.

There are no have-to’s, just choices.

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.

The way to be immortal (I mean not to die at all) is to have me for your heir. I recommend you to put me in your will and you will see that (as long as I live at least) you will never even catch cold.