Ralph Waldo Emerson

The reason why men do not obey us is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye.

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.

Perpetual modernness is the measure of merit in every work of art.

What is the imagination? Only an arm or weapon of the interior energy; only the precursor of the reason.

Self-command is the main discipline.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character.

With all the doubt, with every worry, with all the negativity that I mistook for honesty, it kept me blinded. Lying for so long, I fooled myself in believing it to be my reality. And living in that world, it was my reality. Like when the lights come on, or when the curtains are drawn back, the shock of the clarity, meant I had to adjust to the new world I was witnessing. An honest; good with the bad, world, that I can thrive and grow in.

I know no religion that destroys courtesy, civility, and kindness.

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.

Nothing is black or white.

Nothing is so exhilarating in life as to be shot at with no result.

I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.

When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. But when they are away, we console ourselves for their absence by dwelling on their vices.

Pride is seldom delicate; it will please itself with very mean advantages.

The advantage of doing one’s praising to oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places.

Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker upon the planet. Then all things are at risk.

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.

Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side.

You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.