Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely. ‘Tis pedantry to estimate nations by the census, or by square miles of land, or other than by their importance to the mind of the time.

If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman – repose in energy.

Let us treat the men and women well: treat them as if they were real: perhaps they are.

The dice of God are always loaded.

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.

Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Politics is the gizzard of society, full of gut and gravel.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.

Make a good use of the present.

All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance.

I would be loath to speak ill of any person who I do not know deserves it, but I am afraid he is an attorney.

Life is not an exact science, it is an art.

Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.

To himself everyone is an immortal. He may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.

Although the road is never ending, take a step and keep walking, do not look fearfully into the distance…on the path let the heart be your guide for the body is hesitant and full of fear.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.