Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
Ralph Waldo EmersonPeople who wash much have a high mind about it, and talk down to those who wash little.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe great man, that is, the man most imbued with the spirit of the time, is the impressionable man.
Ralph Waldo EmersonWe but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.
Ralph Waldo EmersonSport is the bloom and glow of a perfect health. The great will not condescend to take anything seriously; all must be as gay as the song of a canary, though it were the building of cities, or the eradication of old and foolish churches and nations, which have cumbered the earth long thousands of years.
Ralph Waldo Emerson