Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion. Every sentence is doubly significant, and the sense of our author is as broad as the world.

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.

Self-trust is the essence of heroism.

Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and once it has done so, he/she will have to accept that his life will be radically changed.

We ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.

All philosophies, if you ride them home, are nonsense, but some are greater nonsense than others.

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

Revenge is the act of passion, vengeance is an act of justice.

When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber.

Count on it, if a person talks of their misfortune, there is something in it that is not disagreeable to them.

Vulgarity in a king flatters the majority of the nation.

Men are conservatives when they are least vigorous, or when they are most luxurious. They are conservatives after dinner, or before taking their rest; when they are sick or aged. In the morning, or when their intellect or their conscience has been aroused, when they hear music, or when they read poetry, they are radicals.

Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else.

Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle.

Suffering is but another name for the teaching of experience, which is the parent of instruction and the schoolmaster of life.

Let your character be kept up the very end, just as it began, and so be consistent.

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.