Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson

From:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/12080.Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

“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.” 

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

“Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.” 

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” 

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” 

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” 

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” 

“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” 

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” 

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” 

“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.” 

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” 

“It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” 

“Life is a journey, not a destination.” 

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” 

“Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”