We must not inquire too curiously into the absolute value of literature. Enough that it amuses and exercises us. At least it leaves us where we were. It names things, but does not add things.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe quality of the thought differences the Egyptian and the Roman, the Austrian and the American.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe worst of charity is that the lives you are asked to preserve are not worth preserving.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe counting-room maxims liberally expounded are laws of the Universe. The merchant's economy is a coarse symbol of the soul's economy. It is, to spend for power, and not for pleasure.
Ralph Waldo Emerson