Ralph Waldo Emerson

If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.

Do what we can, summer will have its flies.

A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.

Those who live to the future must always appear selfish to those who live to the present.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

The sea, washing the equator and the poles, offers its perilous aid, and the power and empire that follow it… Beware of me, it says, but if you can hold me, I am the key to all the lands.

He walked out into the cold morning asking himself this heretical question: Can you start measuring a minute at any instant you wish?

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. But when they are away, we console ourselves for their absence by dwelling on their vices.

Wherever a man goes, men will pursue him and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society.

We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward and thrift no privileges.

Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals.

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.

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

One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!

Real love begins when nothing is expected in return.

My favorite nightcap, after all this time, is still the cocktail of you.

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake . . . by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.

They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed.