Best Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

Solitude is impractical and yet society is fatal.

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.

When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.

He presents me with what is always an acceptable gift who brings me news of a great thought before unknown. He enriches me without impoverishing himself.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

The spirit of our American radicalism is destructive and aimless; it is not loving; it has no ulterior and divine ends; but is destructive only out of hatred and selfishness.

Do what we can, summer will have its flies.

You cannot do wrong without suffering wrong.

Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong.

Let us treat the men and women well: treat them as if they were real: perhaps they are.

So of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more it remains.

There never was a child so lovely, but his mother was glad to get him asleep.

Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.

The good rain, like a bad preacher, does not know when to leave off.

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.

Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations.

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

We know better than we do. We do not yet possess ourselves...

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

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.

No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.

Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.

Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow.

The German intellect wants the French sprightliness, the fine practical understanding of the English, and the American adventure; but it has a certain probity, which never rests in a superficial performance, but asks steadily, To what end? A German public asks for a controlling sincerity.

No man can help another without helping himself.

Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.

The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.

Like bees, they must put their lives into the sting they give.

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.

It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

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

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

Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit.

The secret in education lies in respecting the student.

Nothing is beneath you if it is in the direction of your life.

Sincerity is the highest complement you can pay,