Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do what we can, summer will have its flies.

Heroism works in contradiction to the voice of mankind and in contradiction, for a time, to the voice of the great and good. Heroism is an obedience to a secret impulse of an individual.

I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I am not afraid of falling into my inkpot.

The never-ending task of self improvement.

Whenever you are sincerely pleased you are nourished.

In America the geography is sublime, but the men are not; the inventions are excellent, but the inventors one is sometimes ashamed of.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

Do what you know and perception is converted into character.

When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy the only decent thing to do is to die at once.

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

Wealth is in applications of mind to nature; and the art of getting rich consists not in industry, much less in saving, but in a better order, in timeliness, in being at the right spot.

Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.

The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature.

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.

Don’t think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.

Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.

And deep in my heart. The answer, it was in me. And I made up my mind. To define my own destiny.

Not gold but only men can makeA people great and strong;Men who for truth and honors sakeStand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while others sleep,Who dare while others flyThey build a nations pillars deepAnd lift them to the sky.