1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
'Tis a rule of manners to avoid exaggeration.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Exaggeration]


'Tis a superstition to insist on a special diet. All is made at last of the same chemical atoms.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Diets and Dieting]


'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem to be confidences or sides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profound thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Books and Reading]


'Tis the old secret of the gods that they come in low disguises.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [God]


'Tis very certain that each man carries in his eye the exact indication of his rank in the immense scale of men, and we are always learning to read it. A complete man should need no auxiliaries to his personal presence.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Appearance]


A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Beauty]


A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza; read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Character]


A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Cynics and Cynicism]


A day for toil, an hour for sport, but for a friend is life too short.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Friends and Friendship]


A few strong instincts and a few plain rules suffice us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Instinct]


A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Consistency]


A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Friends and Friendship]


A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Friends and Friendship]


A good indignation brings out all one's powers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Power]


A great man stands on God. A small man on a great man.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Greatness]


A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Courage]


A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Heroes and Heroism]


A low self-love in the parent desires that his child should repeat his character and fortune.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Self-love]


A man finds room in the few square inches of the face for the traits of all his ancestors; for the expression of all his history, and his wants.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Faces]


A man is a god in ruins.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – [Adversity]

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