Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.

Doubt not, O poet, but persist. Say 'It is in me, and shall out.' Stand there, balked and dumb, stuttering and stammering, hissed and hooted, stand and strive, until at last rage draw out of thee that dream-power which every night shows thee is thine own; a power transcending all limit and privacy, and by virtue of which a man is the conductor of the whole river of electricity.

The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors, because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind.

Imagination is a very high sort of seeing.

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

The Gods we worship write their names on our faces; be sure of that. And a man will worship something ... That which dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.

So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,' The youth whispers, 'I can.

Happy will the house be in which the relationships are formed from character.

The roses under my window make no reference to former roses or better ones; they are what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.

Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries.

There is no privacy that cannot be penetrated. No secret can be kept in the civilized world. Society is a masked ball where everyone hides his real character, then reveals it by hiding

Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good. 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm.