Ralph Waldo Emerson

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.

We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected

Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.

There is no prosperity, trade, art, city, or great material wealth of any kind, but if you trace it home, you will find it rooted in a thought of some individual man.

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

At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.

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.

Keep true, never be ashamed of doing right; decide on what you think is right and stick to it.

The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.

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

Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue-to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak.

Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.

What is once well done is done forever.

If men be good, government cannot be bad.

We are all alike, on the inside.

I want to be free; to escape. I use my pen as oars; the paper as my boat. I fill these pages to keep me afloat. I ride the waves of turmoil, so I can paddle away to calmer seas.

As to the adjective, when in doubt strike it out.

After the first blush of sin comes its indifference.