Ralph Waldo Emerson

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

No man thoroughly understands a truth until he has contended against it.

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.

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?

Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both.

Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.

There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.

She was taken by surprise at quite how breathtaking the twinkle in her eyes was. She listened and watched attentively, magnetized. As butterflies danced on her lips, her own stomach felt butterflies.

Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.

Man is the only animal which esteems itself rich in proportion to the number and voracity of its parasites.

The future is purchased by the present.

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.

Many heroes lived before Agamemnon; but all are unknown and unwept, extinguished in everlasting night, because they have no spirited chronicler.

Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.

There are three wants which never can 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.

Have good trust in yourself … not in the One that you think you should be, but in the One that you are.

The ship of heaven guides itself and will not accept a wooden rudder.

People of great position are servants times three, servants of their country, servants of fame, and servants of business.

There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it.

Was there ever such an autumn? And yet there was never such a panic and hard times in the commercial world. The merchants and banks are suspending and failing all the country over, but not the sandbanks, solid and warm, and streaked with bloody blackberry vines.You may run upon them as much as you please – even as the crickets do, and find their account in it. They are the stockholders in these banks, and I hear them creaking their content.

On with dance, let joy be unconfined, is my motto; whether there’s any dance to dance or any joy to unconfined.