Ralph Waldo Emerson

Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds. Each man seeks those of different quality from his own, and such as are good of their kind; that is, he seeks other men, and the rest.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

We do not quite forgive a giver. The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten.

Don’t be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don’t bewail and moan. Omit the negative propositions. Challenge us with incessant affirmatives. Don’t waste yourself in rejection, or bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.

One definition of man is an intelligence served by organs.

The laws of each are convertible into the laws of any other.

I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.

Labor, if it were not necessary for existence, would be indispensable for the happiness of man.

For every why he had a wherefore.

Nothing is worth doing unless the consequences may be serious.

All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.

Short words are the best and old words when short are best of all.

October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.

Absolutely speaking, Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you is by no means a golden rule, but the best of current silver. An honest man would have but little occasion for it. It is golden not to have any rule at all in such a case.

A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. He who can pronounce my name aright, he can call me, and is entitled to my love and service.

Try not. Do or do not… there is no try.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

To watch this crystal globe just sent from heaven to associate with me. While these clouds and this somber drizzling weather shut all in, we two draw nearer and know one another. The gathering in of the clouds with the last rush and dying breath of the wind, and then the regular dripping of twigs and leaves the country over, the impression of inward comfort and Sociableness, the drenched stubble and trees that drop beads on you as you pass, their dim outline seen through the rain on all sides drooping in sympathy with yourself. These are my undisputed territory. This is Nature’s English comfort.

Out of the unconscious lips of babes and sucklings are we satirized.

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.