Ralph Waldo Emerson

Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world.

Life is short, but there is always time for courtesy.

Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom.

We must hold a man amenable to reason for the choice of his daily craft or profession. It is not an excuse any longer for his deeds that they are the custom of his trade. What business has he with an evil trade?

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

A faith is a necessity to a man. Woe to him who believes in nothing.

I am living in a nightmare, from which from time to time I wake in sleep.

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

For disappointments, that come not by our own folly, they are the trials or corrections of Heaven: and it is our own fault, if they prove not our advantage.

All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.

Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.

That man is idle who can do something better.

You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she’ll be constantly running back.

When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

Life is a progress, and not a station.

Say what you have to say and first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending; sit down.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like as long as somebody loves you.

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.

Laughter is the greatest weapon we have and we, as humans, use it the least.

The best augury of a man’s success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world.