Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence.

Happiness is a perfume which you cannot pour on someone without getting some on yourself.

There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world.

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

I didn’t find my friends; the good Lord gave them to me.

Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world.

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.

Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life.

Hitch your wagon to a star.

Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.

He who has never hoped can never despair.

The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made.

I think a compliment ought to always precede a complaint, where one is possible, because it softens resentment and insures for the complaint a courteous and gentle reception.

Morality is suspecting other people of not being legally married.

There are no people who are quite so vulgar as the over-refined.

It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.

It all depends on you. You can go on sleeping forever, you can wake up right this moment.

Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of the one who is wise.

Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but religiously follows the new.