Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being? Whence, then, this worship of the past?

The eye is easily frightened.

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.

As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

Preaching is the expression of moral sentiments applied to the duties of life.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world.

If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future.

We must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.

Every calamity is a spur and valuable hint.

If you live for people’s acceptance, you’ll die from their rejections.

While fools shun one set of faults they run into the opposite one.

I’ll tell you why yes, because why people lie is, because when people stop lying you know they’ve stopped caring.

Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats.

Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence.

A day for toil, an hour for sport, but for a friend is life too short.

Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.

Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.

When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with a cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.

I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark.

My chief want in life is someone who shall make me do what I can.