Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.”

“All diseases run into one, old age.”

“Pictures must not be too picturesque.”

“Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.”

“Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.”

“A man is a god in ruins. When men are innocent, life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams.”

“God enters by a private door into every individual.”

“Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual.”

“The faith that stands on authority is not faith.”

“The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.”

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”

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

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”

“We see God face to face every hour, and know the savor of Nature.”

“God screens us evermore from premature ideas.”

“There is no chance and anarchy in the universe. All is system and gradation. Every god is there sitting in his sphere.”

“A good indignation brings out all one's powers.”

“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”

“I have thought a sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women.”

“Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.”

“Good men must not obey the laws too well.”

“It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.”

“Trust men and they will be true to you treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.”

“Great hearts steadily send forth the secret forces that incessantly draw great events.”