Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.

I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.

I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the Stern Fact, the Sad Self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.

If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.

Insist on yourself; never imitate... Every great man is unique.

Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him.

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

Make yourself necessary to somebody. Do not make life hard to any.

Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.

Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.

Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.

That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.