Ralph Waldo Emerson Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes, Ralph Waldo Emerson sayings, and Ralph Waldo Emerson proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Manners are the happy ways of doing things; each once a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened into usage. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence. Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no person can sincerely try to help another without helping themselves. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A sufficient measure of civilization is the influence of good women. Ralph Waldo Emerson
One more fagot of these adamantine bandages is the new science of Statistics. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Commit a crime and the world is made of glass. Commit a crime, and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge and fox and squirrel and mole. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every man's Reason is sufficient for his guidance, if used. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Always do what you are afraid to do. Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the woods we return to reason and faith. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are many who are living far below their possibilities because they are continually handing over their individualities to others. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. We parry and fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs. We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A divine person is the prophecy of the mind; a friend is the hope of the heart. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Immortality will come to such as are fit for it; and he who would be a great soul in the future must be a great soul now. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Of immortality, the soul, when well employed, is incurious. It is so well, that it is sure that it will be well. It asks no questions of the Supreme Power. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Obedience alone gives the right to command. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thyself. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man in debt is so far a slave. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When friendships are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but the solidest things we can know. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Magic and all that is ascribed to it is a deep presentiment of the powers of science. The shoes of swiftness, the sword of sharpness, the power of subduing the elements, of using the secret virtues of minerals, of understanding the voices of birds, are the obscure efforts of the mind in a right direction. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There can be no high civility without a deep morality, though it may not always call itself by that name. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fame is proof that the people are gullible. Ralph Waldo Emerson