Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man is related to all nature.

I look on that man as happy, who, when there is question of success, looks into his work for a reply.

Beauty is the mark God sets on virtue. Every natural action is graceful; every heroic act is also decent, and causes the place and the bystanders to shine.

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss.

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.

If there is something to gain and nothing to lose by asking, by all means ask!

If you wish me to weep, you must first show grief yourself.

How can what an Englishman believes be hearsay? It is a contradiction in terms.

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass, for instance: his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt.

This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.

My emancipation don’t fit your equation.

Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man.

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

Socialists think profits are a vice; I consider losses the real vice.

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

The fickleness of the women I love is only equaled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me.

No two men can be half an hour together but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.

No thought, no reflection, no analysis, no cultivation, no intention; let it settle itself.

The most beautiful woman is the one who is never divulging, she knows what she is and everything else is worth her.