Ralph Waldo Emerson

We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital.

If a man knew anything, he would sit in a corner and be modest; but he is such an ignorant peacock, that he goes bustling up and down, and hits on extraordinary discoveries.

Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar.

Tis the old secret of the gods that they come in low disguises.

Every man has his own vocation, talent is the call.

We are as much informed of a writer’s genius by what he selects as by what he originates.

That after an hour’s silence he can say, The one thing I cannot stand is dampness… That’s all, it took him an hour to work that out.

It is a curious sensation: the sort of pain that goes mercifully beyond our powers of feeling. When your heart is broken, your boats are burned: nothing matters any more. It is the end of happiness and the beginning of peace.

The world is its own magic.

He never does a proper thing without giving an improper reason for it.

The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us: we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses, and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character.

Life on board a pleasure steamer violates every moral and physical condition of healthy life except fresh air. It is a guzzling, lounging, gambling, dog’s life. The only alternative to excitement is irritability.

Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.

If it be an evil to judge rashly or untruly any single man, how much a greater sin it is to condemn a whole people.

Our virtues are dearer to us the more we have had to suffer for them. It is the same with our children. All profound affection entertains a sacrifice. Our thoughts are often worse than we are, just as they are often better.

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

He is useless on top of the ground; he ought to be under it, inspiring the cabbages.

Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both.

Give, even if you only have little.

Any experience of reality is indescribable!

What is easy is seldom excellent.