Ralph Waldo Emerson

See only that thou work and thou canst not escape the reward.

We are always getting ready to live but never living.

All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.

Republics abound in young civilians who believe that the laws make the city, that grave modifications of the policy and modes of living and employments of the population, that commerce, education and religion may be voted in or out; and that any measure, though it were absurd, may be imposed on a people if only you can get sufficient voices to make it a law. But the wise know that foolish legislation is a rope of sand which perishes in the twisting; that the State must follow and not lead the character and progress of the citizen; that the form of government which prevails is the expression of what cultivation exists in the population which permits it. The law is only a memorandum.

There is a tendency for things to right themselves.

That which builds is better than that which is built.

If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.

Help a man against his will and you do the same as murder him.

More than once I had seen a noble who had gotten his enemy at a disadvantage stop to pray before cutting his throat.

Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does.

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.

Never marry but for love; but see that thou lovest what is lovely.

Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.

In the long run you hit only what you aim at. Therefore, though you should fail immediately, you had better aim at something high.

No question is so difficult to answer as that which the answer is obvious.

Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts … good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt. They’re not painful. That’s not just with somebody you want to marry, but it’s with the friends that you choose. It’s with the people you surround yourselves with.

In spite of his practical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims and quotations.

I mean why should somebody go steal and break the law to get all they can when there’s always some law where you can be legal and get it all anyway!

Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing.