Ralph Waldo Emerson

As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

A man’s action is only a picture book of his creed.

Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds. Each man seeks those of different quality from his own, and such as are good of their kind; that is, he seeks other men, and the rest.

If man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.

Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it. We solicitously and apologetically caress and celebrate him, because he held on his way and scorned our disapprobation. The gods loved him because men hated him.

Travel is a fools paradise.

Where you stand depends on where you sit.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won’t.

A wise neuter joins with neither, but uses both as his honest interest leads him.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

First and foremost, it’s going to be treat others with respect. Be polite: Manners go a long way. Try to come from a good place. And aside from that, stay focused and do the right thing.

I only desire sincere relations with the worthiest of my acquaintance, that they may give me an opportunity once in a year to speak the truth.

People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.

Important encounters are planned by the souls long before the bodies see each other.

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity.

I never think at all when I write. Nobody can do two things at the same time and do them both well.

The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.

They that deny a God destroy man’s nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and, if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.

No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes, than a public library.