Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson

That which we persist on doing becomes easier, not that the nature of the task has changed , but our ability to do has increased.

We do not quite forgive a giver. The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten.

Every[one] I meet is in some way my superior.

Reality is a sliding door.

It is dainty to be sick if you have leisure and convenience for it.

This time, like all times, is a very good time - if we but know what to do with it

Beauty is its own excuse for being.

I cannot marry the facts of William Shakespeare to his verse: Other men had led lives in some sort of keeping with their thought, but this man is in wide contrast.

We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light.

The wise man through an excess of wisdom is made a fool.

The etymologist finds the deadest words to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry.

Of that ineffable essence which we call Spirit, he that thinks most, will say least.

Honor is venerable to us because it is no ephemeris. It is always ancient virtue. We worship it today because it is not of today.

Do you think the porter and the cook have no anecdotes, no experiences, no wonders for you? The walls of their minds are scrawled all over with thoughts. They shall one day bring a lantern and read the inscriptions.

Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony.

Meantime nature is not slow to equip us in the prison uniform of the party to which we adhere. We come to wear one cut of face and figure, and acquire by degrees the gentlest asinine expression.

The purpose of life seems to be to acquaint a man with himself and whatever science or art or course of action he engages in reacts upon and illuminates the recesses of his own mind. Thus friends seem to be only mirrors to draw out and explain to us ourselves; and that which draws us nearer our fellow man, is, that the deep Heart in one, answers the deep Heart in another, -- that we find we have (a common Nature) -- one life which runs through all individuals, and which is indeed Divine.

He who knows that power is inborn, that he is weak because he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere, and so perceiving, throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought, instantly rights himself, stands in the erect position, commands his limbs, works miracles; just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man who stands on his head.

Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts everything you said today.

Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.

Sesuatu yang hebat tidak bisa dicapai tanpa semangat yang besar.

Every thing looks permanent until its secret is known.

Some men's words I remember so well that I must often use them to express my thought. Yes, because I perceive that we have heard the same truth, but they have heard it better.

Hidup ini tidak terlalu pendek, jadi kita memiliki banyak kesempatan untuk berbuat baik.