few have said it better
Few have said it better than Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Here is a selection of Emerson quotes I've been reflecting on recently:
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"It is not the length of life, but the depth."
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"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."
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"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet."
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"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."
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"Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it."
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"Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude."
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"Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect."
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"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."
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"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
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"Every wall is a door."
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"The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going."
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"A great man is always willing to be little."
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"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads."
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"Money often costs too much."
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"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late."
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"People do not seem to realise that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character."
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"Be silly. Be honest. Be kind."
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"The only way to have a friend is to be one."
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"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be."
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"It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself."
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"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer."
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"Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine."
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"People only see what they are prepared to see."
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"There is creative reading as well as creative writing."
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"Tis the good reader that makes the good book."
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"Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood."
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"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."
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"You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity."
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"Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy."
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"All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients."
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and, of course, I'd be remiss if I did not include a couple of my long-time favorite Emerson quotes...
"Our moods do not believe in each other."
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"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense."
(note: there are several iterations of this quote)
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