Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Life Is a Journey, Not a Destination.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Beauty without expression tires.

A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.

When a man is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something.

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.

He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

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

The never-ending task of self improvement.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful we must carry it with us or we will not find it.

Earth laughs in flowers.

He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.

He is a dull observer whose experience has not taught him the reality and force of magic, as well as of chemistry.

As soon as there is life there is danger.

If a man carefully examines his thoughts he will be surprised to find how much he lives in the future. His well-being is always ahead.

A woman's strength is the irresistible might of weakness.

Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.

The years teach much the days never know.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks that what was done in a remote age, by men whose names have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing today.

Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.

All history is but the lengthened shadow of a great man.

The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.

Pain indolence sterility endless ennui have also their lesson for you.

If you put a chain around the neck of a slave the other end fastens itself around your own.

Trust the instinct to the end though you can render no reason.

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

Work and acquire and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance.

Ah if the rich were rich as the poor fancy riches!

To Be is to live with God.

The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is that it scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your character.

there is no planet, sun, or star could hold you if you but knew what you are.

Steam is no stronger now than it was a hundred years ago but it is put to better use.

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible

Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.

We take care of our health we lay up money we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting in the best property of all-friends.

Philanthropies and charities have a certain air of quackery.

Imitation cannot go above its model.

How casually and unobservedly we make all our most valued acquaintances.

The student is to read history actively not passively.

A man builds a fine house and now he has a master and a task for life is to furnish watch show it and keep it in repair the rest of his life.

The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship

There is an optical illusion about every person we meet.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

We are reformers in Spring and Summer in Autumn and Winter we stand by the old reformers in the morning conservers at night.

Self-trust is the first secret of success.

I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will do strongly before the sun and moon whatever only rejoices me, and the heart appoints

Fear is an instructor of great sagacity and the herald of all revolutions.

The first wealth is health.