Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hate the word 'facts.' I like the word 'truth.'

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

I am a May-day, a May-day in the middle of winter.

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

I am part of all that I have met.

The good news is that the bad news can be good news.

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

The soul is not a function of the body, but the body is a function of the soul.

The man who has a good library has a good many friends.

I am nothing; I see all.

The mind, like the body, is fed by what it feeds on.

Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.

I have no taste for the pleasures of the senses, but I have a strong taste for the pleasures of the mind.

The earth laughs in flowers.

I am a born poet, but I have never written a poem.

The less government we have, the better—the fewer laws, and the less confided power.

I have a great respect for the man who can make a living by his pen.

The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.

I am a lover of paradoxes.

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