Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

Tis a rule of manners to avoid exaggeration.

Travel is a fools paradise.

The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul.

Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that, unsuspected, ripens with the flower of the pleasure that concealed it.

If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era?

Don’t be a hard rock when you really are a gem!

France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.

A man never tells you anything until you contradict him.

The less a man thinks or knows about his virtues, the better we like him.

Pity the man who has a character to support – it is worse than a large family – he is silent poor indeed.

Wit and Humor – if any difference, it is in duration – lightning and electric light. Same material, apparently; but one is vivid, and can do damage – the other fools along and enjoys elaboration.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

The years teach much what the days never knew.

The future is purchased by the present.

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.

I would live to study, and not study to live.

To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.

How many are the things I can do without!

A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself.