Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit.

The years teach much what the days never knew.

Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts.

Men lose their tempers in defending their taste.

Every fact is related on one side to sensation, and, on the other, to morals. The game of thought is, on the appearance of one of these two sides, to find the other; given the upper, to find the under side.

Prejudice not being funded on reason cannot be removed by argument.

Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.

When a man is just and firm in his purpose, the citizens burning to approve a wrong or the frowning looks of a tyrant. Do not shake his fixed mind, nor the Southwind. Wild lord of the uneasy Adriatic, nor the thunder in the mighty hand of Jove: Should the heavens crack and tumble down, as the ruins crushed him he would not fear.

Live, let live, and help live

A man’s ignorance sometimes is not only useful, but beautiful-while his knowledge, so called, is oftentimes worse than useless, besides being ugly.

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it cannot be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.

Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.

Friends… they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.

Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer.

The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England.

The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.