Ralph Waldo Emerson

How much of human life is lost in waiting.

Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.

Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial.

A true friend is somebody who can make us do what we can.

Beauty is the pilot of the young soul.

Out of Plato come all things that are still written and debated about among men of thought.

Friendships begin with liking or gratitude roots that can be pulled up.

If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It’s very important to be aware of them every time they come up.

If anyone were to ask me what I want out of life I would say- the opportunity for doing something useful, for in no other way, I am convinced, can true happiness be attained.

You’ll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that. Would Columbus have discovered America if he’d said ‘What if I sink on the way over? What if I meet pirates? What if I never come back?’ He wouldn’t even have started.

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.

Do what good thou canst unknown, and be not vain of what ought rather to be felt than seen.

Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to be quite true.

The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.

Events tend to recur in cycles…

It is only through labour and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage; that we move on to better things.

A great man is always willing to be little.

It is a brave thing to have courage to be an individual; it is also, perhaps, a lonely thing. But it is better than not being an individual, which is to be nobody at all.

What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth. No smallest atom of our moral, mental, or physical structure can stand still a year. It grows – it must grow; nothing can prevent it.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures of directions for human life; you have much in little; they save time in speaking; and upon occasion may be the fullest and safest answer.