The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The greatest homage to truth is to use it. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The only reward of virtue is virtue. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The only way to have a friend is to be one. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist…Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The faith that stands on authority is not faith. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is always a certain meanness in the argument of conservatism, joined with a certain superiority in its fact. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is properly no history; only biography. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Don’t be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don’t bewail and moan. Omit the negative propositions. Challenge us with incessant affirmatives. Ralph Waldo Emerson
No matter how often you are defeated, you are born to victory. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Envy is the tax which all distinction must pay. Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is a happy talent to know how to play. Ralph Waldo Emerson
We gain the strength of the temptation we resist. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is not so short but that there is always time for courtesy. Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is proof of high culture to say the greatest matters in the simplest way. Ralph Waldo Emerson
As soon as there is life there is danger. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man in debt is so far a slave. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The only thing grief has taught me is to know how shallow it is. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Manners require time, as nothing is more vulgar than haste. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The most dangerous thing is illusion. Ralph Waldo Emerson
In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Discontent is the want of self-reliance: it is infirmity of will. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sport is the bloom and glow of a perfect health. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men are better than their theology. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The silence that accepts merit as the most natural thing in the world, is the highest applause. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Patience and fortitude conquer all things. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man’s library is a sort of harem. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Magic and all that is ascribed to it is a deep presentiment of the powers of science. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is no calamity which right words will not begin to redress. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every calamity is a spur and valuable hint. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mysticism is the mistake of an accidental and individual symbol for an universal one. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Persecution readily knits friendship between its victims. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I would study, I would know, I would admire forever. Ralph Waldo Emerson
If a man lose his balance, and immerse himself in any trades or pleasures for their own sake, he may be a good wheel or pin, but he is not a cultivated man. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Gothic cathedral is a blossoming in stone subdued by the insatiable demand of harmony in man. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man plunges into politics to make his fortune, and only cares that the world should last his days. Ralph Waldo Emerson
To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Money often costs too much. Ralph Waldo Emerson
What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fame is proof that the people are gullible. Ralph Waldo Emerson
No great man ever complains of want of opportunity. Ralph Waldo Emerson
People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so pleased with bad. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men are respectable only as they respect. Ralph Waldo Emerson
All great natures delight in stability; all great men find eternity affirmed in the very promise of their faculties. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man’s style is his mind’s voice. Wooden minds, wooden voices. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is a series of surprises, and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not. Ralph Waldo Emerson
For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tobacco and opium have broad backs, and will cheerfully carry the load of armies, if you choose to make them pay high for such joy as they give and such harm as they do. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Oxford is a little aristocracy in itself, numerous and dignified enough to rank with other estates in the realm; and where fame and secular promotion are to be had for study, and in a direction which has the unanimous respect of all cultivated nations. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Popularity is for dolls. Ralph Waldo Emerson
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. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The attraction and superiority of California are in its days. It has better days and more of them, than any other country. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Cities give not the human senses room enough. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Cities force growth and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The public values the invention more than the inventor does. The inventor knows there is much more and better where this came from. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mankind have such a deep stake in inward illumination, that there is much to be said by the hermit or monk in defence of his life of thought and prayer. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A sympathetic person is placed in the dilemma of a swimmer among drowning men, who all catch at him, and if he give so much as a leg or a finger, they will drown him. They wish to be saved from the mischief of their vices, but not from their vices. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Things admit of being used as symbols, because nature is a symbol, in the whole, and in every part. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The day is always his, who works in it with serenity and great aims. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The virtues of society are the vices of the saints. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The good rain, like the bad preacher, does not know when to leave off. Ralph Waldo Emerson