Ralph Waldo Emerson

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

The method of nature: who could ever analyze it?

The only gift is a portion of thyself.

There is this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal. Humor him by all means; draw it all out, and hold him to it.

The years teach much what the days never knew.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.

I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.

The first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity to act despite our fears.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

When you do the wrong thing, knowing it is wrong, you do so because you haven’t developed the habit of effectively controlling or neutralizing strong inner urges that tempt you, or because you have established the wrong habit and don’t know how to eliminate them effectively.

That which is false troubles the heart, but truth brings joyous tranquility.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Laws control the lesser man… Right conduct controls the greater one.

Our tastes greatly alter. The lad does not care for the child’s rattle, and the old man does not care for the young man’s whore.

People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to prepare for the long haul, the rise and fall, and let neither define your sense of self.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope.

On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend’s life also, in our own, to the world.

The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not.