There is no true orator who is not a hero.

Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.

All inquiry into antiquity, all curiosity respecting the Pyramids, the excavated cities, Stonehenge, the Ohio Circles, Mexico, Memphis,--is the desire to do away this wild, savage, and preposterous There and Then, and introduce in its place the Here and Now.

To laugh often and much ... this is to have succeeded. Probably not from Emerson: here's the full quotation and the story.

The whole value of history, of biography, is to increase my self-trust, by demonstrating what man can be and do.

When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learns his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation and real skill.

Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.