Ralph Waldo Emerson

I find that the Americans have no passions, they have appetites.

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.

Every wall is a door.

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

One definition of man is an intelligence served by organs.

Nature has always had more force than education.

Personally, I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

Reality is a sliding door.

When a man is just and firm in his purpose, the citizens burning to approve a wrong or the frowning looks of a tyrant. Do not shake his fixed mind, nor the Southwind. Wild lord of the uneasy Adriatic, nor the thunder in the mighty hand of Jove: Should the heavens crack and tumble down, as the ruins crushed him he would not fear.

The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.

A good scare is worth more than good advice.

I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.

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

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue-to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak.

Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit.

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.

A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He’ll beat you all at piety.

Your dreams may have shattered, but that doesn’t mean they are over. They can still be turned into a mosaic of success.

Children are all foreigners.