90+ EXCLUSIVE Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes for Remarkable Life

What was Ralph Waldo Emerson best known for?

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American Transcendentalist thinker, poet, philosopher and essayist during the 19th century. One of his best-known essays is “Self-Reliance.”

He strongly believed that the individual must be independent and self-reliant. According to him, you should make your own decisions and develop the ability to think for yourself. Have the courage to look into your own heart for spiritual guidance. Famous Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes will show you how you can be open to starting a more full and simple life with timeless wisdom.

If you’re searching for best life quotes to share with the people you love or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of best Henry David Thoreau quotes, Mark Twain quotations, and inspirational Socrates quotes.

Best Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. Ralph Waldo Emerson

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Adopt the pace of nature her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is not length of life, but depth of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Always do what you are afraid to do. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me. Ralph Waldo Emerson

People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The first wealth is health. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. Ralph Waldo Emerson

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. Ralph Waldo Emerson

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. Ralph Waldo Emerson

In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The years teach much which the days never know. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship. Ralph Waldo Emerson

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Ralph Waldo Emerson

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is not the length of life, but the depth. Ralph Waldo Emerson

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. Ralph Waldo Emerson

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hitch your wagon to a star. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man is what he thinks about all day long. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is a journey, not a destination. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art. Ralph Waldo Emerson

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson

A great man is always willing to be little. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be not the slave of your own past plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The reward of a thing well done is having done it. Ralph Waldo Emerson

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect. Ralph Waldo Emerson

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. Ralph Waldo Emerson

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson

People do not seem to realise that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself. Ralph Waldo Emerson

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. Ralph Waldo Emerson

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. Ralph Waldo Emerson

To be great is to be misunderstood. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn. Ralph Waldo Emerson

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions. Ralph Waldo Emerson

No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beauty without expression is boring. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting some on yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson