Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only poetry inspires poetry.

The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.

The next best thing to saying a good thing yourself, is to quote one.

Tis a rule of manners to avoid exaggeration.

The virtues of society are vices of the saint. The terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues, or what we have always esteemed such, into the same pit that has consumed our grosser vices.

Do what you know and perception is converted into character.

The only living works are those which have drained much of the author’s own life into them.

The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature.

It is the amends of a short and troublesome life, that doing good and suffering ill entitles man to a longer and better

A nap, my friend, is a brief period of sleep which overtakes superannuated persons when they endeavor to entertain unwelcome visitors or to listen to scientific lectures.

I’ve learned that from my husband, that sort of, you know, ability to not get too high or too low with changes and bumps in the road.

To be good is noble, but to teach others how to be good is nobler and less trouble.

The happiest part of a man’s life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.

Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

He that does good for good’s sake seeks neither paradise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.

Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.

Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts … good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt. They’re not painful. That’s not just with somebody you want to marry, but it’s with the friends that you choose. It’s with the people you surround yourselves with.

When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped.