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  ...we lose our hold on the central reality. Like sick men in hospitals, we change only from bed to bed, from one folly to another; and it cannot signify much what becomes of such castaways,--wailing, stupid, comatose creatures,--lifted from bed to bed, from the nothing of life to the nothing of death.
In this kingdom of illusions we grope eagerly for stays and foundations. There is none but a strict and faithful dealing at home, and a severe barring out of all duplicity or illusion there. Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves.   but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth. I look upon the simple and childish virtues of veracity and honesty as the root of all that is sublime in character. Speak as you think, be what you are, pay your debts of all kinds. I prefer to be owned as sound and solvent, and my word as good as my bond, and to be what cannot be skipped, or dissipated, or undermined, to all the _eclat_ in the universe. A little integrity is better than any career. This reality is the foundation...   Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Excerpt from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 1, November, 1857 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics · This quote is about self-esteem · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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