Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fate, then, is a name for facts not yet passed under the fire of thought; for causes which are unpenetrated.

A man finds room in the few square inches of the face for the traits of all his ancestors; for the expression of all his history, and his wants.

It is the privilege of any human work which is well done to invest the doer with a certain haughtiness. He can well afford not to conciliate, whose faithful work will answer for him.

Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely. ‘Tis pedantry to estimate nations by the census, or by square miles of land, or other than by their importance to the mind of the time.

Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all the management of human affairs.

The next best thing to saying a good thing yourself, is to quote one.

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves.

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.

The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free man acknowledges. It is the only security that free man desires.

Every old poem is sacred.

But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.

When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.

There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.

The fewer our wants the more we resemble the Gods.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.

Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence – neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish – it is an imponderably valuable gift.

All colors will agree in the dark.

Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.