Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

"The only true gift is a portion of thyself."

"All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do."

"The mind is the effect, not the cause; it is the shadow of an image."

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate."

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

"In nature nothing can be given, all things are sold."

"Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself."

"The earth laughs in flowers."

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness."

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful."

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."

"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect."

"The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimension."

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction."

"Beauty is not something that can be defined."

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

"The mind is the effect, not the cause."

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right."

"The mind can make substance, and circumstance is obsequious."

"Cultivate the habit of being grateful."

"The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose."

"Rings of rhyme round the center of grace."

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit."

"Do not seek the because—in life there is no because."

"Self-trust is the first secret of success."

"What we resist persists."

"The creation of the thousand forests is in one acorn."