Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes & Ralph Waldo Emerson Sayings

Among provocatives, the next best thing to good preaching is bad preaching. I have even more thoughts during or enduring it than at other times. "Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones." "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world." "Far or forgot to me is near; Shadow and sunlight are the same; The vanished gods to me appear; And one to me are shame and fame. They reckon ill who leave me out; When me they fly, I am the wings; I am the doubter and the doubt, And I the hymn the Brahmin sings." "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." "He then learns that in going down into the secrets of his own mind he has descended into the secrets of all minds." "He who has a thousand friends Has not a friend to spare, While he who has one enemy Shall meet him everywhere." "I suppose every old scholar has had the experience of reading something in a book which was significant to him, but which he could never find again. Sure he is that he read it there, but no one else ever read it, nor can he find it again, though he buy the book and ransack every page." "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." "Tell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for being: Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! I never sought to ask, I never knew: But, in my simple ignorance suppose The selfsame power that brought me there brought you." "The roses under my window make no reference to former roses or better ones; they are what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence." "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies with in us." 'Tis a rule of manners to avoid exaggeration. 'Tis curious that we only believe as deeply as we live. 'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear. 'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakenly meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart. Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul... Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man. A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts. A chief event in life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. A child is a curly dimpled lunatic. A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic. A field cannot well be seen from within the field. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -- `Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. A friend is one before whom I may think aloud. A friend is one before whom you may think aloud. A friend is the hope of the heart. A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. A friend might well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. A good intention clothes itself with power A good intention clothes itself with power. A great man is always willing to be little. A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before. A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. A hero is no braver than an ordinary person, but he is braver five minutes longer. A life in harmony with nature, the love of truth and virtue, will purge the eyes to understanding her text A little fact is worth a whole limbo of dreams. A little integrity is better than any career 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. A man cannot free himself by any self-denying ordinances, neither by water nor potatoes, nor by violent possibilities, by refusing to swear, refusing to pay taxes, by going to jail, or by taking another man's crops or squatting on his land. By none of these ways can he free himself; no, nor by paying his debts with money; only by obedience to his own genius. A man in debt is so far a slave. A man is a bundle of relations, a knot of roots, whose flower and fruitage is the world A man is a God in ruins. A man is usually more careful of his money than he is of his principles. A man is what he thinks about all day long. A man known to us only as a celebrity in politics or in trade, gains largely in our esteem if we discover that he has some intellectual taste or skill A man makes inferiors his superiors by heat; self-control is the rule. A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam that flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his own thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam that flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his own thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a sort of alienated majesty. A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends. A man's wife has more power over him than the state has. A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends. A man's library is a sort of harem. A man's wife has more power over him than the state has. A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely . . . but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude . . . A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely, but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming. A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming. A political victory, a rise in rents, the recovery of your sick, or return of your absent friend, or some other quite external event, raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.from "Self-Reliance" A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking. A strenuous soul hates cheap success. A sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women. A true friend is somebody who can make us do what we can. A weed is just a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. A woman should always challenge our respect, and never move our compassion. a word of contempt often in his mouth. Accept your genius and say what you think. Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience. Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone All diseases run into one, old age. All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man had taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of you first. All history becomes subjective; in other words there is properly no history, only biography. All history is but the lengthened shadow of a great man All life is an experiment. All life is an experiment. The more experiments yoiu make the better. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. All mankind love a lover. All minds quote. Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients. All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. All our progress is an unfolding, like the vegetable bud, you have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has root, bud and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. All persons are puzzles until at last we find in some word or act the key to the man, to the woman; straightway all their past words and actions lie in light before us All promise outruns performance. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do.... Build, therefore, your own world. All the great speakers were bad speakers at first All the mistakes I make arise from forsaking my own station and trying to see the object from another person's point of view. All the thoughts of a turtle are turtle Always do what you are afraid to do. America is another name for opportunity. America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race. An actually existing fly is more important than a possibly existing angel An Eastern poet, Ali Ben Abu Taleb, writes with sad truth, "He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere An eye can threaten like a loaded and levelled gun, or it can insult like hissing or kicking; or, in its altered mood, by beams of kindness, it can make the heart dance for joy An eye can threaten like a loaded and levelled gun, or it can insult like hissing or kicking; or, in its altered mood, by beams of kindness, it can make the heart dance for joy.... One of the most wonderful things in nature is a glance of the eye; it transcends speech; it is the bodily symbol of identity. Art is a jealous mistress, and if a man has a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider. Art is a jealous mistress, and, if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture, or philosophy, he makes a bad husband, and an ill provider, and should be wise in season, and not fetter himself with duties which will embitter his day Art is the path of the creator to his work As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey. As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way. As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions. As soon as a child has left the room his strewn toys become affecting. As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off your miscellaneous activity and concentrate your force on one or a few points As the Sandwich-Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptations we resist As we grow old, the beauty steals inward. As we grow old…the beauty steals inward. Astronomy to the selfish becomes astrology. Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss. Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee, and do not try to make the universe a blind alley. Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee. Be and not seem. Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory. Be careful what you set your heart on, for it will surely be yours. Be not the slave of your own past ... plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience, that shall explain and overlook the old. Be silly. Be honest. Be kind. Beauty is the mark God sets on virtue. Every natural action is graceful; every heroic act is also decent, and causes the place and the bystanders to shine. Beauty is the pilot of the young soul. Beauty without expression is boring. Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; Unbelief, in denying them. Better to be a nettle in the side of your friend than his echo. Beware what you set your heart upon, for it surely shall be yours. Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet. Blame is safer than praise Books are the best of things if well used; if abused, among the worst. They are good for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system. Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end, which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire. Books are the best of things, well used; abused, the worst. What is the right use? What is the end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satelite instead of a system. Born for success he seemed, With grace to win, with heart to hold, With shining gifts that took all eyes Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy something, which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith's. But the lightning which explodes and fashions planets, maker of planets and suns, is in him. On one side elemental order, sandstone and granite, rock-ledges, peat-bog, forest, sea and shore; and on the other part, thought, the spirit which composes and decomposes nature,—here they are, side by side, god and devil, mind and matter, king and conspirator, belt and spasm, riding peacefully together in the eye and brain of every man. But you must pay for conformity. All goes well as long as you run with conformists. But you, who are honest men in other particulars, know, that there is alive somewhere a man whose honesty reaches to this point also, that he shall not kneel to false gods, and, on the day when you meet him, you sink into the class of counterfeits. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. 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. By persisting in your path, though you forfeit the little, you gain the great. By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattl'd farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world Can anybody remember when the times were not hard and money not scarce? Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self? Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed Character - a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. Character is higher than intellect. Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. Character is what can do without success. Children are all foreigners. Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial. Cities force growth, and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial. Civilization depends on morality. Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may will call it black diamonds. Every basket is power and civilization. For coal is a portable climate. Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer. Columbus discovered no isle or key so lonely as himself. Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. Concentration is the secret of strength Concentration is the secret of strengths in politics, in war, in trade, in short in all management of human affairs. Condense some daily experience into a glowing symbol and an audience is electrified. Congratulate yourselves if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age Conservatism makes no poetry, breathes no prayer, has no invention; it is all memory. Reform has no gratitude, no prudence, no husbandry. The Conservative Conversation is an art in which a man has all mankind for his competitors, for it is that which all are practicing every day while they live Courage consists in equality to the problem before us. Courage consists in the power of self-recovery. Creative force, like a musical composer, goes on unweariedly repeating a simple air or theme, now high, now low, in solo, in chorus, ten thousand times reverberated, till it fills earth and heaven with the chant. Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that, unsuspected, ripens with the flower of the pleasure that concealed it. Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold. Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors. Difficulties exist to be surmounted Discontent is want of self-reliance; it is infirmity of will Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experience. Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble. Do not be too timid and squeamish about your reactions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action. Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail Do not say things. What you are stands over you the while and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. Do not say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders, so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. Do not waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good. Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain Do what we can, summer will have its flies. Do what you are afraid to do Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes, you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate. Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about. Don't be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don't bewail and moan. Omit the negative propositions. Challenge us with incessant affirmatives. Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. 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. 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. Each man has his own vocation; his talent is his call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun. Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them. Earth laughs in flowers. Enthusiasm is the leaping lightning, not to be measured by the horse-power of the understanding. Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved. Envy is ignorance. Envy is the tax which all distinction must pay. Evermore in the world is this marvelous balance of beauty and disgust, magnificence and rats Every actual state is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well. Every artist was first an amateur. Every burned book enlightens the world. Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side. Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart. Every hero becomes a bore at last. Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. Every man believes that he has a greater possibility Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. Every man I meet is in some way my superior. Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors. Every man passes his life in the search after friendship. Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood; and if there is any truth in him, if he rests at last on the divine soul, I see not how it can be otherwise Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact. Every noble activity makes room for itself Every revolution was first a thought in one man's mind Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good. Every vice is only an exaggeration of a necessary and virtuous function. Every wall is a door. Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free. Everything in nature contains all the power of nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff. Everything in the universe goes by indirection. There are no straight lines. Exaggeration is in the course of things. Nature sends no creature, no man into the world, without adding a small excess of his proper quality. Given the planet, it is still necessary to add the impulse; so, to every creature nature added a little violence of direction in its proper path, a shove to put it on its way; in every instance, a slight generosity, a drop too much. Faith and love are apt to be spasmodic in the best of minds. Men live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter, and with their hands on the door-latch they die outside. Fame is proof that people are gullible Fame is proof that people are gullible. Fame is proof that the people are gullible. Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence. Fear always springs from ignorance Fear is the instructor of great sagacity, and the herald of all revolutions Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much. Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. 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 well and serenely... 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; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. 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. Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. This you cannot do without temperance. Five minutes of today are worth as much to me, as five minutes in the next millennium. Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today. Flowers are the earth laughing. Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends. For each thorn, there's a rosebud... for each twilight — a dawn... for each trial — the strength to carry on, For each stormcloud — a rainbow... for each shadow — the sun... for each parting — sweet memories when sorrow is done. For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. For every thing you have missed, you have gained something else; and for every thing you gain, you lose something For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something. For there is nothing settled in manners, but the laws of behavior yield to the energy of the individual For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail? For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? Four snakes gliding up and down a hollow for no purpose that I could see -- not to eat, not for love, but only gliding. Friendship demands the ability to do without it. Friendship requires more time than poor busy men can usually command Friendship should be surrounded with ceremonies and respects, and not crushed into corners. Friendship requires more time than poor busy men can usually command. Friendship, like the immortality of the soul, is too good to be believed. When friendships are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but the solidest things we know. From Washington, proverbially "the city of distances," through all its cities, states, and territories, it is a country of beginnings, of projects, of designs, and expectations. From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all. Genial manners are good, and power of accommodation to any circumstance, but the high prize of life, the crowning Fortune of a man is to be born with a Bias to some pursuit, which finds him in employment and happiness, -- whether it be to make baskets, or broadswords, or canals, or statutes, or songs. I doubt not this was the meaning of Socrates, when he pronounced artists the only truly wise, as being actually, not apparently so. Getting old is a fascination thing. The older you get, the older you want to get. Give all to love; obey thy heart Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds. Go oft to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path. Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path. Go put your creed into your deed. Go where he will, the wise man is at home. God enters by a private door into each individual. God enters by a private door into every individual. God may forgive sins, he said, but awkwardness has no forgiveness in heaven or earth God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please - you can never have both. 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 Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence. Good bye, proud world! I'm going home; Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices. Good men must not obey the laws too well. Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they be executed. Great are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world. Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than material force, that thoughts rule the world. Great men are they who see that the spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world. Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs. Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. Half a man's wisdom goes with his courage He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear. He serves all who dares be true. He then learns that in going down into the secrets of his own mind he has descended into the secrets of all minds. He who has a thousand friends Has not a friend to spare, While he who has one enemy Shall meet him everywhere. He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere. He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues it possesses He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses. He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. He who loves the bristle of bayonets only sees in the glitter what beforehand he feels in his heart. It is avarice and hatred; it is that quivering lip, that cold, hating eye, which built magazines and powder-houses. He who loves the bristle of bayonets only sees in the glitter what beforehand he feels in his heart. It is avarice and hatred; it is that quivering lip, that cold, hating eye, which built magazines and powder-houses. Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness, -- an open and noble temper. Health is the first muse, and sleep is the condition to produce it Heaven always bears some proportion to earth. The god of the cannibal will be a cannibal, of the crusades a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant. Heaven sometimes hedges a rare character about with ungainliness and odium, as the burr that protects the fruit. Heroism feels and never reasons and is therefore always right. Heroism works in contradiction to the voice of mankind and in contradiction, for a time, to the voice of the great and good. Heroism is an obedience to a secret impulse of an individual’s character. Now to no other man can its wisdom appear as it does to him, for every man must be supposed to see a little farther on his own proper path than any one else. Therefore just and wise men take umbrage at his act, until after some little time be past: then they see it to be in unison with their acts. All prudent men see that the action is clean contrary to a sensual prosperity; for every heroic act measures itself by its contempt of some external good. But it finds its own success at last, and then the prudent also extol. Self-trust is the essence of heroism. It is the state of the soul at war, and its ultimate objects are the last defiance of falsehood and wrong, and the power to bear all that can be inflicted by evil agents. It speaks the truth and it is just. It is generous, hospitable, temperate, scornful of petty calculations and scornful of being scorned. It persists; it is of an undaunted boldness and of a fortitude not to be wearied out. Its jest is the littleness of common life. That false prudence which dotes on health and wealth is the foil, the butt and merriment of heroism. Heroism, like Plotinus, is almost ashamed of its body. His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong History is the action and reaction of these two, nature and thought - two boys pushing each other on the curbstone of the pavement. Hitch your wagon to a star. How cunningly nature hides every wrinkle of her inconceivable antiquity under roses and violets and morning dew! How many attractions for us have our passing fellows in the streets, both male and female, which our ethics forbid us to express, which yet infuse so much pleasure into life. A lovely child, a handsome youth, a beautiful girl, a heroic man, a maternal woman, a venerable old man, charm us, though strangers, and we cannot say so, or look at them but for a moment. How much of human life is lost in waiting. How we glow over these novels of passion, when the story is told with any spark of truth and nature! And what fastens attention, in the intercourse of life, like any passage betraying affection between two parties? Perhaps we never saw them before and never shall meet them again. But we see them exchange a glance or betray a deep emotion, and we are no longer strangers. We understand them and take the warmest interest in the development of the romance. All mankind love a lover. I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions I am sure of this, that by going much alone a man will get more of a noble courage in thought and word than from all the wisdom that is in books. I am taught the poorness of our invention, the ugliness of towns and palaces. Art and luxury have early learned that they must work as enhancement and sequel to this original beauty. I am over instructed for my return. Henceforth I shall be hard to please. I cannot go back to toys. I am grown expensive and sophisticated. I can no longer live without elegance: but a countryman shall be my master of revels. He who knows the most, he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground, the waters, the plants, the heavens, and how to come at these enchantments, is the rich and royal man. Only as far as the masters of the world have called in nature to their aid, can they reach the height of magnificence. I am thankful for small mercies. I compared notes with one of my friends who expect everything of the universe, and is disappointed when anything is less than the best, and I found that I begin at the other extreme, expecting nothing, and am always full of thanks for moderate good. . . . If we will I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new. I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. I awoke with devout thanksgiving for my friends. I can find my biography in every fable that I read. I cannot find language of sufficient energy to convey my sense of the sacredness of private integrity I cannot forgive a scholar his homeless despondency. I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I'm not afraid of falling into my inkpot. I do not hesitate to read all good books in translations. What is really best in any book is translatable -- any real insight or broad human sentiment. I hate quotation. Tell me what you know. I hate quotations. I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. I hate the giving of the hand unless the whole man accompanies it. I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship. I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being perfectly well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow. I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity which religion is powerless to bestow. I have seen manners that make a similar impression with personal beauty; that give the like exhilaration, and refine us like that; and, in memorable experiences, they are suddenly better than beauty, and make that superfluous and ugly. But they must be marked by fine perception, the acquaintance with real beauty. They must always show self-control: you shall not be facile, apologetic, or leaky, but king over your word; and every gesture and action shall indicate power at rest. Then they must be inspired by the good heart. There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. 'Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night's lodging. 'Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light. I know of no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that of tenacity of purpose... I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching. I like to have a man's knowledge comprehend more than one class of topics, one row of shelves. I like a man who likes to see a fine barn as well as a good tragedy. I pay the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys that educate my son. I see my trees repair their boughs I suppose every old scholar has had the experience of reading something in a book which was significant to him, but which he could never find again. Sure he is that he read it there, but no one else ever read it, nor can he find it again, though he buy the book and ransack every page. I think sometimes could I only have music on my own terms, could I live in a great city, and know where I could go whenever I wished the ablution and inundation of musical waves, that were a bath and a medicine. I used to always think that I'd look back on us crying and laugh, but, I never thought I'd look back on us laughing and cry. I would have the studies elective. Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor. Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams. If a man will kick a fact out of the window, when he comes back he finds it again in the chimney corner. If eyes were made for seeing, then beauty is its own excuse for being If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me. If man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods If man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods. If the colleges were better, if they really had it, you would need to get the police at the gates to keep order in the inrushing multitude. See in college how we thwart the natural love of learning by leaving the natural method of teaching what each wishes to learn, and insisting that you shall learn what you have no taste or capacity for. The college, which should be a place of delightful labour, is made odious and unhealthy, and the young men are tempted to frivolous amusements to rally their jaded spirits. I would have the studies elective. Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor. If the red slayer thinks he slays, / Or if the slain think he is slain, / They know not well the subtle ways / I keep, and pass, and turn again. If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and adore. If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and stare. If the Stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile. If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side...when the glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time...is a very good one... If two or three persons should come with a high spiritual aim and with great powers, the world would fall into their hands like a ripe peach. If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. If we live truly, we shall see truly. If we shall take the good we find, asking no questions, we shall have heaping measures. If you can not find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? Dogen Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, denying them. If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own Imagination is not the talent of some men, but is the health of every man Immortality. I notice that as soon as writers broach this question they begin to quote. I hate quotation. Tell me what you know. In art the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can inspire In conversation the game is, to say something new with old words. And you shall observe a man of the people picking his way along, step by step, using every time an old boulder, yet never setting his foot on an old place. In creeds never was such levity; witness the heathenism in Christianity, the periodic "revivals," the Millennium mathematics, the peacock ritualism, the retrogression to Popery, the maundering of Mormons, the squalor of Mesmerism, the deliration of In England every man you meet is some man's son; in America, he may be some man's father. In every work of genius we recognise our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty In failing circumstances no one can be relied on to keep their integrity. In sculpture did ever anybody call the Apollo a fancy piece? Or say of the Laocoon how it might be made different? A masterpiece of art has in the mind a fixed place in the chain of being, as much as a plant or a crystal. In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed. In skating over thin ice our safety is our speed In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed. In the great books of India, an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence, which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the questions that exercise us 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. In the matter of religion, people eagerly fasten their eyes on the difference between their own creed and yours; whilst the charm of the study is in finding the agreements and identities in all the religions of humanity In the matter of religion, people eagerly fasten their eyes on the difference between their own creed and yours; whilst the charm of the study is in finding the agreements and identities in all the religions of humanity. In the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs. In the woods is perpetual youth. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession... Do that which is assigned to you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. Insist upon yourself. Be original. Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free. Is it so bad to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in? Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such who are in the institution wish to get out; and such as are out wish to get in. Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being? Whence, then, this worship of the past? It does not need that a poem should be long. Every word was once a poem. Every new relationship is a new word. It happened once that a youth and a maiden beheld each other in a public assembly for the first time…The youth gazed with great delight upon the beautiful face until he caught the maiden’s eye…The mysterious communication that is established across a house between two entire strangers, by this means moves all the springs of wonder. It is a happy talent to know how to play. It is a lesson which all history teaches wise men, to put trust in ideas, and not in circumstances. It is commonly observed that a sudden wealth, like a prize drawn in a lottery or a large bequest to a poor family, does not permanently enrich. They have served no apprenticeship to wealth, and with the rapid wealth come rapid claims which they do not know how to deny, and the treasure is quickly dissipated. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion, it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the world, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude It is long ere we discover how rich we are. Our history, we are sure, is quite tame: we have nothing to write, nothing to infer. But our wiser years still run back to the despised recollections of childhood, and always we are fishing up some wonderful article out of that pond; until, by and by, we begin to suspect that the biography of the one foolish person we know is, in reality, nothing less than the miniature paraphrase of the hundred volumes of the Universal History. It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death. It is not length of life, but depth of life. It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. It is only when the mind and character slumber that the dress can be seen. It is proof of high culture to say the greatest matters in the simplest way It is the duty of men to judge men only by their actions. Our faculties furnish us with no means of arriving at the motive, the character, the secret self. We call the tree good from its fruits, and the man, from his works. (sermon, October 15, 1826) It is the ignorant and childish part of man that is the fighting part It is the soundness of the bones that ultimates itself in the peach- bloom complexion It is very hard to be simple enough to be good. It is very unhappy, but too late to be helped, the discovery we have made, that we exist It seems to me that perfection of means and confusion of goals seems to characterize our age. It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, "Always do what you are afraid to do Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams. Knowledge comes by eyes always open and working hands; and there is no knowledge that is not power. Knowledge exists to be imparted Knowledge exists to be imparted. Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know. Language is The Archives of history Language is fossil poetry Let a man then know his worth, and keep things under his feet. Let him not peep or steal, or skulk up and down with the air of a charity-boy, a bastard, or an interloper. Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him. Let the river roll which way it will, cities will rise on its banks. Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today. Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods. Let us not look east and west for materials of conversation, but rest in presence and unity. A just feeling will fast enough supply fuel for discourse, if speaking be more grateful than silence. When people come to see us, we foolishly prattle, lest we be inhospitable. But things said for conversation are chalk eggs. 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. A lady of my acquaintance said, " I don't care so much for what they say as I do for what makes them say it." Life be not so short but that there is always time for courtesy. Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. Life is a festival only to the wise. Life is a progress, and not a station. Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. Life is a succession of lessons, which must be lived to be understood. Life is a successon of lessons, which must be lived to be understood. Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus. Life is eating us up. We shall be fables presently. Keep cool: it will be all one a hundred years hence. Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy. Life is not so short but that there is always time for courtesy Life is not so short but that there is always time for courtesy. Life is short but there is always time for courtesy. Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy. Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful. Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries. Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloaked clown, Of thee, from the hill-top looking down; And the heifer, that lows in the upland farm, Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm; The sexton tolling the bell at noon, Dreams not that great Napoleon Sto Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. Look out! Behind you! Love and you shall be loved. Love is the essence of God. Love not the flower they pluck and know it not, And all their botany is Latin names Love of beauty is Taste. The creation of beauty is Art. Make the most of yourself for that is all there is of you. Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in your reading have been like the blast of triumph out of Shakespeare, Seneca, Moses, John and Paul. Make yourself necessary to somebody. Man is a piece of the universe made alive Manners are the happy ways of doing things; each one a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened into usage, they form at last a rich varnish, with which the routine of life is washed, and its details adorned. If they are superficial, so are the dew-drops which give such a depth to the morning meadows. Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it. Marriage is the perfection of what love aimed at, ignorant of what it sought. Men achieve a certain greatness unawares, when working to another aim. Men are conservatives when they are least vigorous, or when they are most luxurious. They are conservatives after dinner. Men are respectable only as they respect Men are what their mothers made them Men are what their mothers made them. Men in all ways are better than they seem Men love to wonder and that is the seed of our science Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science. Men should take their knowledge from the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. Men who for truth and honor's sake Stand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while others sleep, Who dare while others fly... They build a nation's pillars deep And lift them to the sky. Men's actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action. Men's actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action. Money often costs too much. Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto. My angel, - his name is Freedom, Choose him to be your king; He shall cut pathways east and west. And fend you with his wing. My country is the world, and my religion is to do good. My life should be unique; it should be an alms, a battle, a conquest, a medicine. Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. Nature and Books belong to the eyes that see them. Nature hates calculators. Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations. Nature is no spendthrift, but takes the shortest way to her ends Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character. Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting. 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. Never read a book that is not a year old. New arts destroy the old. Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. Night hovers all day in the boughs of the fir tree. No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character. No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker with no Past at my back. No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no past at my back. No man acquires property without acquiring with it a little arithmetic also. No man can help another without helping himself. No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he voluntarily makes himself a great baby-so helpless and so ridiculous. No man thoroughly understands a truth until he has contended against it. No matter how you seem to fatten on a crime, there can never be good for the bee which is bad for the hive. No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself. No one has a prosperity so high and firm that two or three words can't dishearten it. No power of genius has ever yet had the smallest success in explaining existence. The perfect enigma remains. Noblesse oblige; or, superior advantages bind you to larger generosity None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone. None shall rule but the humble, And none but Toil shall have Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind Not in his goals but in his transitions is man great Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles. Nothing external to you has any power over you. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Nothing is more disgusting than the crowing about liberty by slaves, as most men are, and the flippant mistaking for freedom of some paper preamble like a Declaration of Independence, or the statute right to vote, by those who have never dared to think or to act. Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit. O friend, my bosom said, Through thee alone the sky is arched. Through thee the rose is red; All things through thee take nobler form, And look beyond the earth, The mill-round of our fate appears A sun-path in thy worth. Me too thy nobleness has taught To master my despair; The fountains of my hidden life Are through thy friendship fair. O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas. Of all debts, men are least willing to pay their taxes; what a satire this is on government. Of course you will insist on modesty in The Children, and respect to their teachers, but if the boy stops you in your speech, cries out that you are wrong and sets you right, hug him! Often a certain abdication of prudence and foresight is an element of success. Oh, tenderly the haughty day Fills his blue urn with fire Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. One man's justice is another's injustice; one man's beauty another's ugliness; one man's wisdom another's folly. One man's justice is another's injustice; one man's beauty another's ugliness; one man's wisdom another's folly. One moment of a man's life is a fact so stupendous as to take the luster out of all fiction. One more fagot of these adamantine bandages is the new science of Statistics. One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday. One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. Only those books come down which deserve to last . All the gilt edges, vellum and morocco, all the presentation copies to all the libraries will not preserve a book in circulation beyond its intrinsic date. Our best thoughts come from others. Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can. Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. Our distrust is very expensive. Our faith comes in moments... yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other experiences. Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. Our high respect for a well-read man is praise enough of literature. Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens. Our spontaneous action is always the best. You cannot, with your best deliberation and heed, come so close to any question as your spontaneous glance shall bring you. Our strength grows out of our weakness Our strength grows out of our weaknesses Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring. Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with bad. People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. People only see what they are prepared to see. People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character. People wish to be settled. It is only as far as they are unsettled that there is any hope for them. People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. Pictures must not be too picturesque. Plants are the young of the world, vessels of health and vigor; but they grope ever upward towards consciousness; the trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their imprisonment, rooted in the ground. Poverty, Frost, Famine, Rain, Disease, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to Common Sense. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. Presently we pass to some other object which rounds itself into a whole as did the first; for example, a well-laid garden; and nothing seems worth doing but the laying-out of gardens. Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow Public opinion, I am sorry to say, will bear a great deal of nonsense. There is scarcely any absurdity so gross, whether in religion, politics, science or manners, which it will not bear. Put the argument into a concrete shape, into an image, some hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, which they can see and handle and carry home with them, and the cause is half won. Raphael paints wisdom; Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakespeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. Real action is in silent moments. Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends. Reality is a sliding door. Reform is affirmative, conservatism negative; conservatism goes for comfort, reform for truth. The Conservative Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble. Remarkable trait in the American Character is the union, not very infrequent, of Yankee cleverness with spiritualism. Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman -- repose in energy. Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude. 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. Rings and jewels are not gifts but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of yourself. Sanity is very rare: every man almost, and every woman, has a dash of madness. Science does not know its debt to imagination. Sculpture and painting have the effect of teaching us manners and abolishing hurry. Self-command is the main discipline. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow Self-trust is the essence of heroism Self-trust is the first secret of success Self-trust is the first secret of success. Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely. Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances: it was somebody's name, or he happened to be there at right time, or it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect. Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. Shallow people believe in luck and in circumstances; Strong people believe in cause and effect. Sickness is poor-spirited, and cannot serve anyone; it must husband its resources to live. But health or fullness answers its own ends, and has to spare, runs over, and inundates the neighborhoods and creeks of other men's necessities. Skill to do comes of doing Skill to do comes of doing. Sleep lingers all our lifetime about our eyes, as night hovers all day in the boughs of the fir-tree Sleep lingers all our lifetime about our eyes, as night hovers all day in the boughs of the fir-tree. So is cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more remains. So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the path of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours. So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the path of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours. So much of our time is spent in preparation, so much in routine, and so much in retrospect, that the amount of each person's genius is confined to a very few hours. So of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more it remains. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense. Solitude is impractical and yet society is fatal. Some books leave us free and some books make us free. Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away. Some men are born to own, and can animate all their possessions. Others cannot: their owning is not graceful; it seems to be a compromise of their character: they seem to steal their own dividends. Some of your hurts you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived, But what torments of grief you endured From the evil which never arrived. Some of your hurts you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived, But what torments of grief you endured From the evil which never arrived. Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis. Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing. Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing. Sorrow makes us all children again, destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest knows nothing. Sorrow makes us children again. Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny. Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon-balls and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel Spiritual force is stronger than material force; thoughts rule the world. Sprinkle joy. States!... Go put your creed into your deed. Stay at home in your mind. Don't recite other people's opinions. I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. Stay at home in your mind. Don't recite other people's opinions. I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. Journals, 1843 Steam is no stronger now than it was a hundred years ago but it is put to better use Success: 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 have lived. This is to have succeeded! Sunday is the core of our civilization, dedicated to thought and reverence. Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book; a personality which, by birth and quality, is pledged to the doctrines there set forth, and which exists to see and state things so, and not otherwise. 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. Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character. That man is idle who can do something better That man is idle who can do something better. That which we call sin in others is experiment for us. That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased 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 adventitious beauty of poetry may be felt in the greater delight with a verse given in a happy quotation than in the poem. The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles. The ancestor of every action is a thought. The angels are so enamored of the language that is spoken in heaven that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether their be any who understand it or not. The angels are so enamoured of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there be any who understand it or not. The art of getting rich consists not in industry, much less in saving, but in a better order, in timeliness, in being at the right spot. The basis of good manners is self-reliance. The beautiful rests on the foundations of the necessary The best of life is conversation, and the greatest success is confidence, or perfect understanding between two people. The betrothed and accepted lover has lost the wildest charms of his maiden by her acceptance. She was heaven while he pursued her, but she cannot be heaven if she stoops to one such as he! The cardinal virtue of a teacher (is) to protect the pupil from his own influence The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic. The child with his sweet pranks, the fool of his senses, commanded by every sight and sound, without any power to compare and rank his sensations, abandoned to a whistle or a painted chip, to a lead dragoon, or a gingerbread dog, individualizing everything, generalizing nothing, delighted with every new thing, lies down at night overpowered by the fatigue, which this day of continual pretty madness has incurred. But Nature has answered her purpose with the curly, dimpled lunatic. She has tasked every faculty, and has secured the symmetrical growth of the bodily frame, by all these attitudes and exertions /an end of the first importance, which could not be trusted to any care less perfect than her own. The definition of success--To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded. The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit. The disease with which the human mind now labors is want of faith The education of the will is the object of our existence. The eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly and desperately drunk with a certain belief. The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization. The experience of each new age requires a new confession, and the world seems always waiting for its poet The eye is easily frightened. The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul The faith that stands on authority is not faith. The fatal trait of the times is the divorce between religion and morality. The force of character is cumulative The fundaments of a person are not in substance, but in spirits. The German intellect wants the French sprightliness, the fine practical understanding of the English, and the American adventure; but it has a certain probity, which never rests in a superficial performance, but asks steadily, To what end? A German public asks for a controlling sincerity. 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 you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship. The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it's the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friend. The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile...it's the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship. The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant. The good lawyer is not the man who has an eye to every side and angle of contingency, and qualifies all his qualifications, but who throws himself on your part so heartily, that he can get you out of a scrape. The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings. The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them. The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them. The greatest difficulty is that men do not think enough of themselves, do not consider what it is that they are sacrificing when they follow in a herd, or when they cater for their establishment The greatest gift is a portion of thyself. The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it. The greatest man in history was the poorest The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship. The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue The highest compact we can make with our fellow is - "Let there be truth between us two forevermore." The highest revelation is that God is in every man The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand. The hues of the opal, the light of the diamond, are not to be seen if the eye is too near. The imbecility of men is always inviting the impudence of power. The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. The Italians are fond of red clothes, peacock plumes, and embroidery; and I remember one rainy morning in the city of Palermo, the street was ablaze with scarlet umbrellas The judge weighs the arguments and puts a brave face on the matter, and since there must be a decision, decides as he can, and hopes he has done justice and given satisfaction to the community The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own. The less government we have the better. The life of man is the true romance, which when it is valiantly conduced, will yield the imagination a higher joy than any fiction. The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons. The maker of a sentence launches out into the infinite and builds a road into Chaos and old Night, and is followed by those who hear him with something of wild, creative delight. The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers. The man who can make hard things easy is the educator. The masses have no habit of self reliance or original action. The maxim of the tyrant, 'If you would rule the world quietly, you must keep it amused The measure of a master is his success in bringing all men round to his opinion twenty years later The mind does not create what it perceives, any more than the eye creates the rose. The miracles of genius always rest on profound convictions which refuse to be analyzed. The moment we indulge our affections, the earth is metamorphosed; there is no winter and no night; all tragedies, all ennuis, vanish,-all duties even. The moral sense reappears today with the same morning newness that has been from of old the fountain of beauty and strength. You say there is no religion now. 'Tis like saying in rainy weather, There is no sun, when at that moment we are witnessing one of its superlative effects. The more reason, the less government. The never-ending task of self improvement. The next thing to saying a good thing yourself, is to quote one. The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul The only gift is a portion of thyself. The only gift is a portion of thyself. . . the poet brings his poem; the shepherd his lamb. . . The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one. The only way to have a friend is to be one. The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it. The people are to be taken in very small doses The people fancy they hate poetry, and they are all poets and mystics. The pleasure of life is according to the man who lives it, and not according to the work or the place The poet knows that he speaks adequately, then, only when he speaks somewhat wildly, or, "with the flower of the mind;" not with the intellect, used as an organ, but with the intellect released from all service, and suffered to take its direction fro The poisons are our principal medicines, which kill the disease and save the life. The poorest experience is rich enough for all the purposes of expressing thought The power of love, as the basis of a State, has never been tried. The profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until an equal mind and heart finds and publishes it. The progress of religion is steadily to its identity with morals. Strength enters just as much as the moral element prevails. The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. The quality of the imagination is to flow and not to freeze The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war. The reality is more excellent than the report. The reason why all men honor love is because it looks up, and not down; aspires and not despairs The reason why all men honor love is because it looks up, and not down; aspires and not despairs. The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself The reliance on property is...the want of self-reliance. [Men] measure the esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is. But a cultivated man becomes ashamed of his property...(Essays) The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide. The religions are obsolete when the reforms do not proceed from them The results of life are uncalculated and uncalculable. The years teach much which the days never know. The persons who compose our company, converse, and come and go, and design and execute many things, and somewhat comes of it all, but an unlooked for result. The individual is always mistaken. He designed many things, and drew in other persons as coadjutors, quarrelled with some or all, blundered much, and something is done; all are a little advanced, but the individual is always mistaken. It turns out somewhat new, and very unlike what he promised himself. The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom. The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. The secret of culture is to learn, that a few great points steadily reappear,…and that these few are alone to be regarded, -- the escape from all false ties; courage to be what we are; and love of what is simple and beautiful; independence, and cheerful relation, these are the essentials, -- these, and the wish to serve, -- to add somewhat to the well-being of men. The secret of drunkeness is, that it insulates us in thought, whilst it unites us in feeling. The secret of education is respecting the pupil. The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. The senses collect the surface facts of matter... It was sensation; when memory came, it was experience; when mind acted, it was knowledge; when mind acted on it as knowledge, it was thought. The silence that accepts merit as the most natural thing in the world is the highest applause. The sky is the daily bread of the eyes. The Sky is the daily bread of the imagination The State must follow, and not lead, the character and progress of the citizen. The sum of wisdom is that time is never lost that is devoted to work. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people. The thing done avails, and not what is said about it. The things taught in colleges and schools are not an education, but the means of education. The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education. The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means to an education. The thirst for adventure is the vent which Destiny offers; a war, a crusade, a gold mine, a new country, speak to the imagination and offer swing and play to the confined powers. The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine. The triumphs of peace have been in some proximity to war. Whilst the hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, whilst the habits of the camp were still visible in the port and complexion of the gentleman, his intellectual power culminated; the compression and tension of these stern conditions is a training for the finest and softest arts, and can rarely be compensated in tranquil times, except by some analogous vigor drawn from occupations as hardy as war. The true artist has the planet for his pedestal; the adventurer, after years of strife, has nothing broader than his shoes The truth, the hope of any time, must always be sought in minorities. The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made The unique impression of Jesus upon mankind - whose name is not so much written as ploughed into the history of the world - is proof of the subtle virtue of this infusion. Jesus belonged to the race of prophets. He saw with open eyes the mystery of the soul. One man was true to what is in you and me. He, as I think, is the only soul in history who has appreciated the worth of man. The universe does not jest with us, but is in earnest The virtues of society are vices of the saint. The terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues, or what we have always esteemed such, into the same pit that has consumed our grosser vices. The walls of rude minds are scrawled all over with facts, with thoughts. They shall one day bring a lantern and read the inscriptions. The whole secret of the teacher's force lies in the conviction that man are convertible. The wise man always throws himself on the side of his assailants. It is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point. The wise man in the storm prays God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear. The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear The wise skeptic does not teach doubt but how to look for the permanent in the mutable and fleeting. The wise through excess of wisdom is made a fool. The world belongs to the energetic The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind. The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going. The worst of charity is that the lives you are asked to preserve are not worth preserving The worst of charity is that the lives you are asked to preserve are not worth preserving. The years teach much which the days never knew. The years teach much which the days never know The years teach much which the days never know. Then the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out/ I went into a spin and I started to shout/ I've been hit. This is it. This is it! I . . T . . . IT! There are always those who think they know what is your responsibility better than you do. There are books which take rank in your life with parents and lovers and passionate experiences, so medicinal, so stringent, so revolutionary, so authoritative. There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant. There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination. There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat. There are three wants which can never be satisfied: that of the rich, who wants something more; that of the sick, who wants something different; and that of the traveler, who says, "Anywhere but here There are two classes of poets - the poets by education and practice, these we respect; and poets by nature, these we love. There can be no high civility without a deep morality There comes a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance, that imitation is suicide, that he must take himself for better, or for worse as his portion. There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea. There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide. There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion . . . It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. 'Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night's lodging. 'Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light. There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behaviour, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. There is no chance, and no anarchy, in the universe. All is system and gradation. Every god is there sitting in his sphere. There is no den in the wide world to hide a rogue. Commit a crime and the earth is made of glass. Commit a crime, and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge, and fox, and squirrel. There is no good theory of disease which does not at once suggest a cure. There is no knowledge that is not power There is no luck in literary reputation. They who make up the final verdict upon every book are not the partial and noisy readers of the hour when it appears; but a court as of angels, a public not to be bribed, not to be entreated, and not to be overawed, decides upon every man's title to fame. There is no one who does not exaggerate. In conversation, men are encumbered with personality, and talk too much. There is no strong performance without a little fanaticism in the performer. There is properly no history; only biography There is properly no history; only biography. 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. There never was a child so lovely but his mother wasn't glad to get him asleep. There never was a child so lovely, but his mother was glad to get him asleep. There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep. These days come and go, but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away.“ These rabble at Washington ... see, against the unanimous expression of the people, how much a little well-directed effrontery can achieve, how much crime the people will bear, and they proceed from step to step... (Journal, June 1846) These times of ours are serious and full of calamity, but all times are essentially alike These times of ours are serious and full of calamity, but all times are essentially alike. As soon as there is life there is danger. They (the days) come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party; but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away They can conquer who believe they can. He has not learned the first lesson in life who does not every day surmount a fear. They say the cows laid out Boston. Well, there are worse surveyors. Things are in the saddle, And ride mankind Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful This body, full of faults, Has yet one great quality: Whatever it encounters in this temporal life Depends upon one's actions. This gives force to the strong -- that the multitude have no habit of self-reliance or original action. This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. This time,like all times, is a good time, if we but know what to do with it. This world we live in is but thickened light. Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect, still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes. Those who live to the future must always appear selfish to those who live to the present Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm. Thou art to me a delicious torment. Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it. Thought is the seed of action. Thoughts are the seed of action. Thoughts come into our minds by avenues which we never left open, and thoughts go out of our minds through avenues which we never voluntarily opened. Thus we feed on genius, and refresh ourselves from too much conversation with our mates, and exult in the depth of nature in that direction in which he leads us. What indemnification is one great man for populations of pigmies! Every mother wishes one son a genius, though all the rest should be mediocre. But a new danger appears in the excess of influence of the great man. His attractions warp us from our place. We have become underlings and intellectual suicides. Ah! yonder in the horizon is our help;- other great men, new qualities, counterweights and checks on each other. We cloy of the honey of each peculiar greatness. Every hero becomes a bore at last. Perhaps Voltaire was not bad-hearted, yet he said of the good Jesus, even, "I pray you, let me never hear that man's name again." They cry up the virtues of George Washington,- "Damn George Washington!" is the poor Jacobin's whole speech and confutation. But it is human nature's indispensable defense. The centripetence augments the centrifugence. We balance one man with his opposite, and the health of the state depends on the see-saw. Time dissipates to shining ether the solid angularity of facts To be great is to be misunderstood. To be simple is to be great To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. To believe in luck - is skepticism To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men-that is genius. To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven. To fill the hour -- that is happiness. To fill the hour, that is happiness; to fill the hour, and leave no crevice for a repentance or an approval To fill the hour-that is happiness. To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom To help the young soul, to add energy, inspire hope, and blow the coals into a useful flame; to redeem defeat by new thought and firm action, this, though not easy, is the work of divine man To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - that is to have succeeded To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intellingent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intellingent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded. To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. 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 little better; whether by a healthy child, a ga 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 little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child. To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again To the dull mind all nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world sparkles with light. To the dull mind nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light. To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine. Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strychnine, are weak dilutions; the surest poison is time. Travel is a fools paradise. Traveling is a fool's paradise... I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there besides me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be. Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Truth is beautiful within and without, forevermore Truth is beautiful, without a doubt. But so are lies. Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies. Truth is our element. Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men. Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs. Truth, and goodness, and beauty, are but different faces of the same All Under the general name of Commodity, I rank all those advantages which our senses owe to nature. This, of course, is a benefit which is temporary and mediate, not ultimate, like its service to the soul. Yet although low, it is perfect in its kind, and is the only use of nature which all men apprehend. The misery of man appears like childish petulance, when we explore the steady and prodigal provision that has been made for his support and delight on this green ball which floats him through the heavens. What angels invented these splendid ornaments, these rich conveniences, this ocean of air above, this ocean of water beneath, this firmament of earth between? this zodiac of lights, this tent of dropping clouds, this striped coat of climates, this fourfold year? Beasts, fire, water, stones, and corn serve him. The field is at once his floor, his work-yard, his play-ground, his garden, and his bed. United States! Go put your creed into your deed. Universities are of course hostile to geniuses, which, seeing and using ways of their own, discredit the routine: as churches and monasteries persecute youthful saints. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. We acquire the strength we have overcome. We aim above the mark to hit the mark. We aim above the mark, to hit the mark. Every act hath some falsehood of exaggeration in it. We are always getting ready to live but never living. We are always getting ready to live, but never living We are born believing. A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples. We are born believing. A man bears beliefs, as a tree bears beauty. We are prisoners of ideas. We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing. We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyfull of words and do not know a thing. The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education. We are students of words: we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation-rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing. We are symbols, and inhabit symbols. We are too civil to books. For a few golden sentences we will turn over and actually read a volume of four or five hundred pages. We are wiser than we know. 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. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. We change, whether we like it or not We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream. We do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count. We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous or brave action We do not quite forgive a giver. The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten. We do not yet trust the unknown power of thoughts We do what we must, and call it by the best names. We find a delight in the beauty and happiness of children, that makes the heart too big for the body We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body. We gain the strength of the temptation we resist. We know better than we do. We do not yet possess ourselves. We know better than we do. We do not yet possess ourselves... We learn geology the morning after the earthquake We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light. We must be our own before we can be another's. We must set up a strong present tense against all rumors of wrath, past and to come. We seek our friend not sacredly, but with an adulterate passion which would appropriate him to ourselves We take care of our health, we lay up money, we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient, but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting the best property of all - friends? We take care of our health, we lay up money, we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient, but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting the best property of all -- friends? We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected We wish to be self-sustained. We do not quite forgive a giver. The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten. What a man does, that he has. What has he to do with hope or fear? In himself is his might. Let him regard no good as solid but that which is in his nature, and which must grow out of him as long as he exists. The goods of Fortune may come and go like summer leaves; let him scatter them on every wind as the momentary signs of his infinite productiveness.from "Spiritual Laws" What greater pain could mortals have than this: To see their children dead before their eyes? What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. What I must do is all that concerns me. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. what is a man good for without enthusiasm? What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered. What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. What is so great as friendship, let us carry with what grandeur of spirit we can. Let us be silent, -- so we may hear the whisper of the gods. Let us not interfere. Who set you to cast about what you should say to the select souls, or how to say any thing to such? No matter how ingenious, no matter how graceful and bland. There are innumerable degrees of folly and wisdom, and for you to say aught is to be frivolous. Wait, and thy heart shall speak. Wait until the necessary and everlasting overpowers you, until day and night avail themselves of your lips. The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one. What is the hardest thing in the world? To think. What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies with in us. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. What lies behind us and what lies before us, Are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. What terrible questions we are learning to ask! The former men believed in magic, by which temples, cities, and men were swallowed up, and all trace of them gone. We are coming on the secret of a magic which sweeps out of men's minds all vestige of theism and beliefs which they and their fathers held and were framed upon. What we call results are beginnings. What we seek we shall find; what we flee from flees from us. What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour. What you do speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say. What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul's emphasis is always right. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth. Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves. Whatever limits us, we call Fate Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to the end, requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs. When a man is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something When a man says to me, "I have the intensest love of nature," at once I know that he has none. 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. When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive When I go into the garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands. When I was praised I lost my time, for instantly I turned around to look at the work I had thought slightly of, and that day I made nothing new. When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. When it is darkest, men see the stars. When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fiber of your body. I measure your health by the number of shoes and hats and clothes you have worn out. When you strike at a king, you must kill him Whenever you are sincerely pleased you are nourished. Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being? Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying. Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change. Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom. Wisdom is like electricity. There is no permanently wise man, but men capable of wisdom, who, being put into certain company, or other favorable conditions, become wise for a short time, as glasses rubbed acquire electric power for a while. Wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances Wit makes its own welcome and levels all distinctions. Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar. Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss. As to methods there Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss. Words are alive; cut them and they bleed. Words are finite organs of the infinite mind. They cannot cover the dimensions of what is in truth. They break, chop, and impoverish it. Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance. Wouldst thou shut up the avenues of ill, Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday. You can take better care of your secret than another can You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. You cannot do wrong without suffering wrong You cannot see the mountain near You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. You must hear the birds song without attempting to render it into nouns and verbs. You send your child to the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys who educate him. You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both