Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow.

The hues of the opal, the light of the diamond, are not to be seen if the eye is too near.

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it cannot be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.

We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected

There are men whose manners have the same essential splendor as the simple and awful sculpture on the friezes of the Parthenon, and the remains of the earliest Greek art.

If you believe in fate, believe in it, at least, for your good.

Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view.

It isn’t safe to sit in judgment upon another person’s illusion when you are not on the inside. While you are thinking it is a dream, he may be knowing it is a planet.

When a person cannot deceive himself the chances are against his being able to deceive other people.

The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free man acknowledges. It is the only security that free man desires.

The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.

There are few virtues that the Poles do not possess and there are few errors they have ever avoided.

The arts and inventions of each period are only its costume, and do not invigorate men.

People of great position are servants times three, servants of their country, servants of fame, and servants of business.

The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.

Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment.

Have good trust in yourself … not in the One that you think you should be, but in the One that you are.

I hate women because they always know where things are.

To find yourself, think for yourself.

Do not undervalue the headache. While it is at its sharpest it seems a bad investment; but when relief begins, the unexpired remainder is worth $4 a minute.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.