Ralph Waldo Emerson

Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.

Every man believes that he has greater possibilities.

I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Men lose their tempers in defending their taste.

The greatest man in history was the poorest.

Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want to be.

A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner.

Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow.

My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a man, Sir, I am your most humble servant. You are not his most humble servant. You may say, These are bad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times. You don’t mind the times … You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society; but don’t think foolishly.

He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

In nature nothing can be given. All things are sold.

If man is to be liberated to enjoy more leisure, he must also be prepared to enjoy this leisure fully and creatively.

The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is.

Wear none of thine own Chains; but keep free, whilst thou art free.

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.

Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.

When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.

Boldness is ever blind, for it sees not dangers and inconveniences whence it is bad in council though good in execution.