Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances....Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Spartans, stoics, heroes, saints, and gods use a short and positive speech.
Each man is a hero and an oracle to somebody, and to that person whatever he says has an enhanced value.
Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
Don't say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.
There is no end to the sufficiency of character. It can afford to wait; it can do without what is called success.
The sum of wisdom is, that the time is never lost that is devoted to work.
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.
The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it - so fine that we often are on the line and do not know it.
I look on that man as happy who, when there is a question of success, looks into his work for a reply.
Talent for talent's sake is a bauble and a show. Talent working with joy in the cause of universal truth lifts the possessor to new power as a benefactor.
In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity.
A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.
The effects of opposition are wonderful. There are men who rise refreshed on hearing a threat - men to whom a crisis which intimidates and paralyzes the majority comes graceful and beloved as a bride.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.
Great men are they who see the spiritual is stronger than the material force, that thoughts rule the world.
An individual has a healthy personality to the exact degree to which they have the propensity to look for the good in every situation.
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.
The mass of men worry themselves into nameless graves while here and there a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.
When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance.
Ideas must work though the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams.
Marriage is the perfection which love aimed at, ignorant of what it sought.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased.
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.
No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this. The only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong what is against it.
Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories.
As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have 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.
Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.
We sometimes meet an original gentleman, who, if manners had not existed, would have invented them.
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