Ralph Waldo Emerson

People wish to be settled. It is only as far as they are unsettled that there is any hope for them.

Life is a series of surprises and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.

Knowledge exists to be imparted.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.

Men achieve a certain greatness unawares, when working to another aim.

Conversation enriches the understanding; but solitude is the school of genius.

Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

Don’t think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.

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

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying the advantages we expect from them.

The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.

The universe is wider than our views of it.

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits not because recompense is a pleasure for them, but because obligation is a pain.

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.

By his father he is English, by his mother he is Americanto my mind the blend which makes the perfect man.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.