Ralph Waldo Emerson

Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds. Each man seeks those of different quality from his own, and such as are good of their kind; that is, he seeks other men, and the rest.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness – an open and noble temper.

The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.

Courtesy Life be not so short but that there is always time for courtesy.

Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the book-worm.

The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.

Associate reverently, as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts.

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.

If you are good, life is good.

I do not like work even when someone else does it.

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference as tenderness is under a love which it cannot return.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

One gains universal applause who mingles the useful with the agreeable, at once delighting and instructing the reader.

There are many scapegoats for our sins, but the most popular is providence.

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

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.

A good conscience is a continual feast.

It is proved…that things cannot be other than they are, for since everything was made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for the best purpose.