Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man of genius is privileged only as far as he is genius. His dullness is as insupportable as any other dullness.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

All mankind love a lover.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

America is not civil, whilst Africa is barbarous.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.

Ralph Waldo Emerson