Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good men must not obey the laws too well.

The key to every man is his thought. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.

Music causes us to think eloquently.

Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.

Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.

Jealousy is never satisfied with anything short of an omniscience that would detect the subtlest fold of the heart.

If you learn to practice love, compassion, joy, and equanimity, you will know how to heal the illnesses of anger, sorrow, insecurity, sadness, hatred, loneliness, and unhealthy attachments.

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

Conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful course.

There is a difference between being convinced and being stubborn.

Lack of money is the root of all evil.

The fewer our wants the more we resemble the Gods.

A great man stands on God. A small man on a great man.

I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.

I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream. Are we not always living the life that we imagine we are?

Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer. You have only to persevere to save yourselves.

Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not?

We live by our imagination, our admirations, and our sentiments.

For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent: his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil: for without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced.