I no longer wish to meet a good I do not earn, for example, to find a pot of buried gold, knowing that it brings with it new burdens. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends imprisoned by an enchanter in paper and leather boxes. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
In order for one to learn the important lessons of life, one must first overcome a fear each day. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Let us draw a lesson from nature, which always works by short ways. When the fruit is ripe, it falls. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is a series of surprises and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus. - Ralph Waldo Emerson