"The only gift is a portion of thyself."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on gifts
4 fans of this quote   

"People with great gifts are easy to find, but symmetrical and balanced ones never."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on ability
9 fans of this quote   

"Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on ability
15 fans of this quote   

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on achievement
191 fans of this quote   

"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; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on achievement
102 fans of this quote   

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on aid and assistance   

"There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on alcohol and alcoholism   

"Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss. As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on ambition
7 fans of this quote   

"In America the geography is sublime, but the men are not; the inventions are excellent, but the inventors one is sometimes ashamed of."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on america   

"I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on america
3 fans of this quote   

"We are a puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on america
4 fans of this quote   

"The intellectual man requires a fine bait; the sots are easily amused. But everybody is drugged with his own frenzy, and the pageant marches at all hours, with music and banner and badge."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on amusement   

"Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on ancestry
5 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"The angels are so enamoured of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there be any who understand it or not."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on angels
3 fans of this quote   

"We aim above the mark to hit the mark."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on goals
7 fans of this quote   

"Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect, still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on goals   

"'Tis the old secret of the gods that they come in low disguises."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on god
5 fans of this quote   

"The dice of God are always loaded."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on god
3 fans of this quote   

"There is a crack in everything God has made."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on god
5 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"Them meaning of good and bad, of better and worse, is simply helping or hurting."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on evil
3 fans of this quote   

"It is very hard to be simple enough to be good."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on goodness
3 fans of this quote   

"The less government we have the better."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on government
6 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on gratitude
9 fans of this quote   

"No great man ever complains of want of opportunity."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness   

"Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness
3 fans of this quote   

"The measure of a master is his success in bringing all men around to his opinion twenty years later."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness   

"The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness   

"To be great is to be misunderstood."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness
3 fans of this quote   

"A great man stands on God. A small man on a great man."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness
4 fans of this quote   

"Great people are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness
8 fans of this quote   

"He is great who is what he is from nature, and who never reminds us of others."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on greatness
6 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"My evening visitors, if they cannot see the clock should find the time in my face."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on guests   

"To fill the hour -- that is happiness."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on happiness
8 fans of this quote   

"I look on that man as happy, who, when there is question of success, looks into his work for a reply."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on happiness   

"Happiness is a perfume which you cannot pour on someone without getting some on yourself."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on happiness
7 fans of this quote   

"Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness -- an open and noble temper."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on health
5 fans of this quote   

"Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on health   

"His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on art
3 fans of this quote   

"Great hearts steadily send forth the secret forces that incessantly draw great events."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on art