Ralph Waldo Emerson

The artists must be sacrificed to their art. Like the bees, they must put their lives into the sting they give.

The dice of God are always loaded.

Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.

People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with the bad.

The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.

A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts.

We know there is intention and purpose in the universe, because there is intention and purpose in us.

He is a benefactor of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and so recur habitually to the mind.

The worst of charity is that the lives you are asked to preserve are not worth preserving.

The American Constitution, one of the few modern political documents drawn up by men who were forced by the sternest circumstances to think out what they really had to face, instead of chopping logic in a university classroom.

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.

I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.

No God and no religion can survive ridicule. No political church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field, and live.

If you have nothing to say, say nothing.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: “O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.” And God granted it.

Often a certain abdication of prudence and foresight is an element of success.

Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.

If the announcer can produce the impression that he is a gentlemen, he may pronounce as he pleases.

We are always getting ready to live but never living.

Failure is an important part of your growth and developing resilience. Don’t be afraid to fail.

Life at its noblest leaves mere happiness far behind; and indeed cannot endure it. Happiness is not the object of life: life has no object: it is an end in itself; and courage consists in the readiness to sacrifice happiness for an intenser quality of life.