Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reality is a sliding door.

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 rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature.

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

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.

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.

Some will always be above others. Destroy the inequality today, and it will appear again tomorrow.

It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.

You will know (the good from the bad) when you are calm, at peace. Passive.

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.

Every being is in search of truth, but small fears go on preventing you.

Fear always springs from ignorance.

We are just statistics, born to consume resources.

Every person is a God in embryo. Its only desire is to be born.

Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.

We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.

A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide.

We aim above the mark to hit the mark.

What is once well done is done forever.

The walking of Man is falling forwards.