Ralph Waldo Emerson

He who would be a man must therefore be a non-conformist.

Nature is full of freaks, and now puts an old head on young shoulders, and then takes a young heart heating under fourscore winters.

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.

O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas.

Genius Borrows nobly.

Slavery it is that makes slavery; freedom, freedom. The slavery of women happened when the men were slaves of kings.

The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistorical acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

That man is idle who can do something better.

Often the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.

Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study.

Love grows. Lust wastes by Enjoyment, and the Reason is, that one springs from an Union of Souls, and the other from an Union of Sense.

All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

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

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.

Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.

When a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing, it will often guide him if he asks himself how it will tell a hundred years hence.

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

A few strong instincts and a few plain rules suffice us.

A friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened is as bad as one who does not know how to forget.

The secret in education lies in respecting the student.