Heroes for a Better World

Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882)

birthdate: May 25
birthplace:
Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts

QUOTES

Creativity
There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination.

Culture of Peace
It is the ignorant and childish part of mankind that is the fighting part. Idle and vacant minds want excitement

Ecology
"To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood."

"In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows."

Elders
As we grow old…the beauty steals inward.

Fear
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

Forgiveness
For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense

Freedom
For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?

Friendship
"The only way to have a friend is to be one."

"Every man passes his life in the search after friendship."

"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature."

"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere."

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.

Happiness
"Of cheerfulness, or a good temper -- the more it is spent, the more of it remains.

Health
Sickness is poor-spirited, and cannot serve anyone; it must husband its resources to live. But health or fullness answers its own ends, and has to spare, runs over, and inundates the neighborhoods and creeks of other men's necessities.

Kindness
"Live, let live, and help live"

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

Language
Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.

“Language is the archives of history”

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.

Living A Life of Compassion
"To share often and much...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

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

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

"Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy."

Be an opener of doors.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

No More War
The real and lasting victories are those of peace and not of war.

Parents
“Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.”

Patriotism
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and the purity of its heart.

Peace
Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

Volunteer
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

Win-Win
The god of Victory is said to be one-handed, but Peace gives victory to both sides.

More Quotes

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

All conservatives are such from personal defects. They have been effeminated by position or nature, born halt and blind, through luxury of their parents, and can only, like invalids, act on the defensive.

Commerce is of trivial import; love, faith, truth of character, the aspiration of man, these are sacred.

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

Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.

Go oft to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

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

No man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

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.

There is a tendency for things to right themselves.

To the dull mind nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.

To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.

Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be. We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.

With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.

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

 


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