Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I cannot brag of knowing something, then I brag of not knowing it; at any rate, brag.

The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid loss, and unpayable. But the sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all facts.

Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste.

Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that, unsuspected, ripens with the flower of the pleasure that concealed it.

The hues of the opal, the light of the diamond, are not to be seen if the eye is too near.

People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with the bad.

Act, if you like, but you do it at your peril. Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.

I was the same old me. Just like the Moon yesterday. But because of all the other factors that came to play, the darkness, the brightness, the blood red color. They all were a reflection, a projection due to the perfect set of circumstances. The Moon was still the Moon. But it was still labeled the Super Blue Blood Moon, Just so we can have some understanding, but, again I’ll state, the Moon was still just the Moon, just like I was still just me. Whatever you project on me, and I reflect back, doesn’t then make me become a new person, it’s just a reflection of your projection. I am still just me.

Danger – if you meet it promptly and without flinching – you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races.

Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats.

Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial.

One thing you learn: if you want to reveal yourself, you also have to know where to stop.

Reading Proust isn’t just reading a book, it’s an experience and you can’t reject an experience.

Don’t think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.

The pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.

A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those worth committing.

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.

The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.

Most people think that aging is irreversible and we know that there are mechanisms even in the human machinery that allow for the reversal of aging, through correction of diet, through anti-oxidants, through removal of toxins from the body, through exercise, through yoga and breathing techniques, and through meditation.