Ralph Waldo Emerson

Murder in the murderer is no such ruinous thought as poets and romancers will have it; it does not unsettle him, or fright him from his ordinary notice of trifles; it is an act quite easy to be contemplated.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

Europe extends to the Alleghenies; America lies beyond.

The most dangerous thing is illusion.

Who can guess how much industry and providence and affection we have caught from the pantomime of brutes?

The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit.

Quarrel? Nonsense; we have not quarreled. If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is the good of being friends?

I know myself as a human entity; the scene, so to speak, or thoughts are affection; and am sensible of certain doubleness by which I can stand as remote from myself as from another. However intense my experience, I am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me, which, as it were, is no part of me, but spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is no more I than it is you.

The revelation of Thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.

I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are evil.

In the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs.

There is only one good – knowledge; and only one evil – ignorance.

Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.

Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem to be confidences or sides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profound thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.

It’s not given to people to judge what’s right or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.

Avoid popularity it has many snares and no real benefit.

If you want the moon, do not hide from the night. If you want a rose, do not hide from the thorns. If you want love, do not hide from yourself.

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

Wisdom is better than silver and gold. I was hopeless, now I’m on hope road.

I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.