Ralph Waldo Emerson

All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.

Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.

Men lose their tempers in defending their taste.

That which we call sin in others, is experiment for us.

Wherever there is power there is age.

Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the book-worm.

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

The trouble with you Chicago people is that you think you are the best people down here, whereas you are merely the most numerous.

You are a constant. Forever in my mind; forever in my heart. It seems that most matter how much I try I can’t get rid of you. You are a thorn, stuck in deep; painful to remove, and even when I do, still I’ll bleed and feel the soreness. It will take time, but it will heal. No matter the pain, I will still dare to pick roses.

Trust instinct to the end, even though you can give no reason.

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

There is a wisdom of the head, and there is a wisdom of the heart.

Poets, like friends to whom you are in debt, you hate.

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.

Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is every moment starting to more delightful amusements.

One can resist the invasion of an army, but one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.

How lovely the little river is, with its dark changing wavelets! It seems to me like a living companion while I wander along the bank, and listen to its low, placid voice…

You know about a person who deeply interests you more than you can be told. A look, a gesture, an act, which to everybody else is insignificant tells you more about that one than words can.

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.

What a new face courage puts on everything!

Sometimes we are inclined to class those who are once-and-a-half witted with the half-witted, because we appreciate only a third part of their wit.