Ralph Waldo Emerson

The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic.

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

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.

Every man has his own vocation, talent is the call.

I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.

Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.

The ship of heaven guides itself and will not accept a wooden rudder.

I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, ‘Verify your quotations.’

The martyr cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame; every prison a more illustrious abode.

If you try to please everybody, somebody’s not going to like it.

The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.

A sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

Nothing is to be preferred before justice.

The revelation of Thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.

For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent: his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil: for without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

You don’t get respect if you don’t deserve it

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ is a snivelling modern invention, with no warrant in the gospels.

Drunkenness spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans man. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impudent, dangerous, and mad.