Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.

The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.

Shallow people believe in luck and in circumstances; Strong people believe in cause and effect.

The city is recruited from the country.

Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.

Whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can commit the least act of injustice against the obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for it.

Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.

When things are steep, remember to stay level-headed.

Experience is in the fingers and head. The heart is inexperienced.

Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.

Men’s men: gentle or simple, they’re much of a muchness.

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

No God and no religion can survive ridicule. No political church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field, and live.

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.

Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull everywhere. He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him great.

I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being. I’ll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity or anything else.