Ralph Waldo Emerson

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

The pest of society are the egotist, they are dull and bright, sacred and profane, course and fine. It is a disease that like the flu falls on all constitutions.

Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.

Sunday is the core of our civilization, dedicated to thought and reverence.

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

No orator can top the one who can give good nicknames.

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

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.

The natural law of inertia: Matter will remain at rest or continue in uniform motion in the same straight line unless acted upon by some external force.

Where God does not govern, tyrants will rule.

The spirit of our American radicalism is destructive and aimless; it is not loving; it has no ulterior and divine ends; but is destructive only out of hatred and selfishness.

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

We need much less than we think we need.

Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.

Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.

Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.

Wise men make more opportunities than they find.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Love can often be misguided and do as much harm as good, but respect can do only good. It assumes that the other person’s stature is as large as one’s own, his rights as reasonable, his needs as important.