Why has my motley diary no jokes? Because it is a soliloquy and every man is grave alone.
Ralph Waldo EmersonA man is a beggar who only lives to the useful, and, however he may serve as a pin or rivet in the social machine, cannot be saidto have arrived at self-possession.
Ralph Waldo EmersonThe wise man always throws himself on the side of his assailants. It is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIf you maintain a dead church, contribute to a dead Bible-society, vote with a great party either for the government or against it, spread your table like base housekeepers, - under all these screens I have diffuculty to detect the precise man you are: and of course so much force is withdrawn from your proper life. But do your work and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. A man must consider what a blind-man's bluff is this game of conformity. If I know your sect I anticipate your argument.
Ralph Waldo Emerson