Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. Friedrich Nietzsche thought he was "the most gifted of the Americans," and Walt Whitman called Emerson his "master".

Quotes

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence.
Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis.
Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.

Common Sense
Here is the world, sound as a nut, perfect, not the smallest piece of chaos left, never a stitch nor an end, not a mark of haste, or botching, or second thought; but the theory of the world is a thing of shreds and patches.
So of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more it remains.
I hate quotations.
A friend might well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

Friendship
My evening visitors, if they cannot see the clock, should find the time in my face.
Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well -- he has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun.
Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experience.
We aim above the mark to hit the mark.
Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect.
Ideas must work through the brains and arms of men, or they are no better than dreams.
Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely...
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he know that every day is Doomsday.

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