Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and philosopher in the mid-19th century. He was primarily responsible for introducing Transcendentalism to a broad audience. His writing inspired leaders of the American and French revolutions, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Transcendentalism is a philosophy that seeks to bring the individual closer to nature, close to God, and closer to humanity through intuition rather than through reason or established religion. This movement started when Ralph Waldo Emerson published his essay Nature in 1836, which many considered Transcendentalism’s manifesto.
His thoughts are often interpreted as a call for individualism, self-improvement, and self-development, with his writing and speaking on self-reliance form the basis of this principle.
The following are his most inspirational quotes that will teach you great life lessons to make it better for living.
103 Inspirational Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
“The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”
“People only see what they are prepared to see.”
“It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself.”
“A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.”
“The greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”
“Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”
“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”
“Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding.”
“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”
“Make the most of yourself…for that is all there is of you.”
“Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.”
“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”
“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.”
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
“Some books leave us free and some books make us free.”
“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.”
“Every artist was first an amateur.”
“Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.”
“Imagination is not the talent of some men, but the health of every man.”
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”
“Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories.”
“Always, always, always, always, always do what you are afraid to do. Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
“Life is a succession of lessons, which must be lived to be understood.”
“Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.”
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”
“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.”
“Love is a perfume you cannot pour onto others without getting a few drops on yourself.”
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
“Everything in the universe goes by indirection. There are no straight lines.”
“It is not the length of life, but the depth.”
“Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.”
“A man is what he thinks about all day long.”
“Make the most of yourself….for that is all there is of you.”
“Knowledge is an antidote to fear.”
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
“Life is a progress, and not a station.”
“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.”
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
“Better to know a few things which are good and necessary than many things which are useless and mediocre.”
“What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul’s emphasis is always right.”
“People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.”
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”
“Every genuine work of art has as much reason for being as the earth and the sun.”
“The earth laughs in flowers.”
“Make yourself necessary to the world, and mankind will give you bread, and if not store of it, yet such as shall not take away your property in all men’s possessions, in all men’s affections, in art, in nature, and in hope.”
“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
“When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.”
“We walk alone in the world. Friends, such as we desire, are dreams and fables.”
“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
“Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.”
“Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting some on yourself.”
“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.”
“But genius looks forward. The eyes of men are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead. Man hopes. Genius creates. ”
“Beauty without expression is boring.”
“Beware what you set your heart upon. For it surely shall be yours.”
“The first wealth is health.”
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”
“Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self.”
“The invariable mark of a dream is to see it come true.”
“Most of the shadows of this life are standing in one’s own sunshine.”
“You become what you think about all day long.”
“Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up.”
“When you were born you were crying and everyone else was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone else is crying.”
“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
“The ancestor of every action is a thought.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.”
“We acquire the strength we have overcome.”
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.”
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”
“If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.”
“The reason why the world lacks unity and lies broken and in heaps is because man is disunited with himself.”
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
“To be great is to be misunderstood.”
“When it’s dark enough, you can see the stars.”
“Make the most of yourself for that is all there is of you.”
“You are constantly invited to be what you are.”
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
“Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. ”
“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”
“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.”
“It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.”
“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.”
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
“Self-reliance, the height and perfection of man, is reliance on God.”
“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.”
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
“Always do what you are afraid to do.”
“Our strength grows out of our weakness.”
“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.”
“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
“People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.”
“Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.”
“Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good. ”
“Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.”
“Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
