Ralph Waldo Emerson

The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit.

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?

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.

The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.

The miracles of genius always rest on profound convictions which refuse to be analyzed.

Artists must be sacrificed to their art.

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

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

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

Culture is one thing and varnish is another.

Familiarity breeds contempt and children.

This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.

Oftentimes, it’s the way we react to change that is the thing that determines the overall experience.

Why should I be unhappy? Every parcel of my being is in full bloom.

Genius Borrows nobly.

Right is right even if everyone is against it and wrong is wrong even if everyone is for it.

The beginning of an acquaintance whether with persons or things is to get a definite outline of our ignorance.

In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.