ralph waldo emerson

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is for you.”

“The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what
lies within us.”

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing on one’s own sunshine.”

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

“To the dull mind all nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.”

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters to what lies withn us.”

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest
critics and endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate
beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better
whether by a healthy child, or a garden patch or a redeemed
social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small
matters compared to what lies within us.”

Our strength grows out of our weakness.

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do
what you are afraid to do.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some
blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something
else is the greatest accomplishment.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and
leave a trail.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising up every time we fail