Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital.

An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.

The German intellect wants the French sprightliness, the fine practical understanding of the English, and the American adventure; but it has a certain probity, which never rests in a superficial performance, but asks steadily, To what end? A German public asks for a controlling sincerity.

We are not victims of aging, sickness and death. These are part of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.

The hottest love has the coldest end.

There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

It is, I fear, but a vain show of fulfilling the heathen precept, Know thyself, and too often leads to a self-estimate which will subsist in the absence of that fruit by which alone the quality of the tree is made evident.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

Dare to think for yourself.

It is a curious sensation: the sort of pain that goes mercifully beyond our powers of feeling. When your heart is broken, your boats are burned: nothing matters any more. It is the end of happiness and the beginning of peace.

Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.

Opportunity makes a thief.

This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

If man had created man, he would be ashamed of his performance.