In the right hands, literature is not resorted to as a consolation, and by the broken and decayed, but as a decalogue. Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson More Quotes From Ralph Waldo Emerson Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can offer with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation, but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. Ralph Waldo Emerson self-relianceexpressioninspirational You must elect your work; you shall take what your brains can, and drop all the rest. Only so can that amount of vital force accumulate which can make the step from knowing to doing. No matter how much faculty of idle seeing a man has, the step from knowing to doing is rarely taken. It is a step out of a chalk circle of imbecility into fruitfulness. Ralph Waldo Emerson circlestakenmen Love is the essence of God. Ralph Waldo Emerson essencelove-youlove-is We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body. Ralph Waldo Emerson grandparentheartchildren Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste. Ralph Waldo Emerson cynicalhastetime The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going Ralph Waldo Emerson motivationalinspirationallife Commerce is a game of skill which everyone cannot play and few can play well. Ralph Waldo Emerson skillsgamesplay The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it. Ralph Waldo Emerson motivationalrelationshipfriendship Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short in all management of human affairs. Ralph Waldo Emerson focus-and-concentrationwarcommitment Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strychnine, are weak dilutions; the surest poison is time. This cup which nature puts to our lips, has a wonderful virtue, surpassing that of any other draught. It opens the senses, adds power, fills us with exalted dreams, which we call hope, love, ambition, science; especially it creates a craving for larger draughts of itself. Ralph Waldo Emerson coffeedreamtime The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call common sense; a man of a strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this. He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent - for every effect a perfect cause - and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose. Ralph Waldo Emerson strongbusinessinspirational 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. Ralph Waldo Emerson ambitionworkjobs The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization. Ralph Waldo Emerson warpeacelife Everything intercepts us from ourselves. Ralph Waldo Emerson interventionalienation The need for a rational consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Ralph Waldo Emerson consistencymindneeds Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about. Ralph Waldo Emerson doing-goodresultsbusiness Thoughts rule the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson worldthinking I cannot go to the houses of my nearest relatives, because I do not wish to be alone. Society exists by chemical affinity, and not otherwise. Ralph Waldo Emerson chemicalswishhouse We must be very suspicious of the deceptions of the element of time. It takes a good deal of time to eat or to sleep, or to earn ahundred dollars, and a very little time to entertain a hope and an insight which becomes the light of our life. Ralph Waldo Emerson hopesleeptime You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both. Ralph Waldo Emerson powersaidjoy
