Ralph Waldo Emerson

24 quotes

Lived: 1803 – 1882
Era: 19th century
Place: Concord, Massachusetts, USA

Essayist and Transcendentalist who urged self-reliance, nature, and moral courage.

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Always do what you are afraid to do.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGrowth
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGratitude
Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGrowth
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonSpiritual
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGrowth
The sun shines to-day also.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonSpiritual
To be great is to be misunderstood.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGratitude
Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonSpiritual
The one thing in the world of value is the active soul--the soul, free, sovereign, active.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGrowth
The only way to have a friend is to be one.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGratitude
Self-trust is the essence of heroism.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage
Insist on yourself; never imitate.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGrowth
To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGrowth
The only gift is a portion of thyself.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGratitude
A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonGratitude
Our strength grows out of our weakness.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonStrength
We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonSpiritual