Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.

Them meaning of good and bad, of better and worse, is simply helping or hurting.

Life is a festival only to the wise.

The power which resides in man is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.

We lie in the lap of immense intelligence.

People with great gifts are easy to find, but symmetrical and balanced ones never.

Sometimes if I see negative things it really doesn’t faze me, because you’ve got to be tough and you’ve got to be you.

The trouble with you Chicago people is that you think you are the best people down here, whereas you are merely the most numerous.

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

You will find only what you bring in.

During my life, I have had a few nightmares which happened to me while I was wide awake.

Do that which is assigned to you and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile – hoping it will eat him last.

It is nobler to be good, and it is nobler to teach others to be good – and less trouble!

Anger makes dull men witty – but it keeps them poor.

Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years at least.

I hold every man a debtor to his profession.

A sudden bold and unexpected question does many times surprise a man and lay him open.