Ralph Waldo Emerson

We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital.

One lesson we learn early, that in spite of seeming difference, men are all of one pattern. We readily assume this with our mates, and are disappointed and angry if we find that we are premature, and that their watches are slower than ours. In fact, the only sin which we never forgive in each other is difference of opinion.

Who can guess how much industry and providence and affection we have caught from the pantomime of brutes?

The greatest meliorator of the world is selfish, huckstering Trade.

Language is the archives of history.

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.

Truth is a naked and open daylight.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together.

Do that which is assigned to you and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.

I am not an Athenian, nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world.

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

What is peculiar in the life of a man consists not in his obedience, but his opposition, to his instincts. In one direction or another he strives to live a supernatural life.

Why level downward to our dullest perception always, and praise that as common sense? The commonest sense is the sense of men asleep, which they express by snoring.

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.

The sea, washing the equator and the poles, offers its perilous aid, and the power and empire that follow it… Beware of me, it says, but if you can hold me, I am the key to all the lands.

Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any degree; only about as much as is used in the lowest kinds of poetry. Some penetration, accuracy, and coloring, will fit a man for the task, if he can give the application which is necessary.

Anger is short madness

PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE my young padawan.

It’s not burn baby burn, but learn, baby, learn, so that you can earn, baby, earn.