Inspirational Quotations by Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid
    with them.
    From Issue 2
  • Sorrow looks back
    Worry looks around
    Faith looks up.
    Topics: Sorrow, Worry, Faith
    From Issue 5
  • No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.
    From Issue 9
  • Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect,
    still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes.
    From Issue 15
  • He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
    And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
    From Issue 18
  • The only way to have a friend is to be one
    From Issue 19
  • What lies behind us and what lies before us
    are small matters compared to what lies within us.
    From Issue 31
  • Bad times have a scientific value.
    These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
    From Issue 36
  • Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
    From Issue 45
  • They can conquer who believe they can.
    He has not learned the first lesson in life
    who does not every day surmount a fear.
    From Issue 49
  • Unless you try to do something beyond what you
    have already mastered, you will never grow.
    From Issue 55
  • The reward of a thing well done is having done it.
    From Issue 60
  • The man who makes a mistake and does not
    correct it, thereby makes another mistake.
    From Issue 63
  • He who is not everyday conquering
    some fear has not learned the secret of life.
    From Issue 68
  • Do not follow where the path may lead.
    Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
    From Issue 79
  • Guard well your spare moments.
    They are like uncut diamonds.
    Discard them and their value will never be known.
    Improve them and they will become
    the brightest gems in a useful life.
    From Issue 92
  • For every minute of anger,
    You lose sixty seconds of happiness.
    From Issue 109
  • Nothing is at last sacred but
    the integrity of your own mind.
    Topic: Integrity
    From Issue 129
  • To laugh often and much;
    to win the respect of intelligent people
    and the affection of children...
    to leave the world a better place...
    to know even one life has breathed easier because
    you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
    From Issue 135
  • Be active, be energetic,
    be enthusiastic and faithful,
    and you will accomplish your objective.
    From Issue 145
  • Let your enthusiasm radiate in your voice,
    your actions, your facial expressions,
    your personality, the words you use,
    and the thoughts you think!
    Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
    From Issue 157
  • Do not go where the path may lead,
    go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
    From Issue 158
  • Every great and commanding
    movement in the annals of the world
    is the triumph of enthusiasm.
    Nothing great was ever achieved without it.
    From Issue 161
  • A hero is no braver than an ordinary man,
    but he is braver five minutes longer.
    From Issue 167
  • Nature arms each man with some faculty which
    enables hium to do easily some feat impossible to any other.
    From Issue 173
  • War educates the senses,
    calls into action the will,
    perfects the physical constitution,
    brings men into such swift and close collision
    in critical moments that man measures man.
    From Issue 196
  • Let us, if we must have great actions, make our own so.
    All action is of infinite elasticity, and the least admits of being
    inflated with celestial air, until it eclipses the sun and moon.
    From Issue 203
  • It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that
    no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
    From Issue 222
  • The reason why all men honor love is because it looks up,
    and not down; aspires and not despairs.
  • Make yourself necessary to somebody.
  • To be yourself in a world, that is constantly trying to
    make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
  • The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand,
    nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship;
    it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when
    he discovers that someone else believes in him
    and is willing to trust him with his friendship.
  • In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts:
    they come back to us with certain alienated majesty.
  • Do not waste yourself in rejection,
    nor bark against the bad,
    but chant the beauty of the good.
  • Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.

A design by Nagesh Belludi • 11-Oct-07 • Protected under a Creative Commons License