Knowledge comes by eyes always open and working hands; and there is no knowledge that is not power.

Why should we be cowed by the name of Action?…The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature. To think is to act.

Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover

Truth, and goodness, and beauty, are but different faces of the same All

Cut a word and it will bleed.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom.

In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil

A chief event in life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us

We are too civil to books. For a few golden sentences we will turn over and actually read a volume of four or five hundred pages.

Tis man’s perdition to be safe, When for the truth he ought to die

Men such as they are, very naturally seek money or power; and power because it is as good as money

Valor consists in the power of self recovery.

He is great who is what he is from Nature, and who never reminds us of others

If you shoot at a king you must kill him.

Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances: it was somebody’s name, or he happened to be there at right time, or it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise. Strong...

Let me admonish you, first of all, to go alone; to refuse the good models, even those most sacred in the imagination of men, and dare to love God without mediator or veil.

Make the most of yourself….for that is all there is of you.

To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.

Poetry must be as new as foam, and as old as the rock.

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...

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity.

In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, — he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with...

Whatever you do you need courage.Whatever course you decide upon, there will always be someone to tell you that you are wrong.

To laugh often and much;to win the respect of intelligent peopleand the affection of children,to leave the world a better place,to know even one life has breathed easierbecause you have lived,this is to have succeeded.

a man only knows what he’s experienced

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his...

A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best.

See only that thou work and thou canst not escape the reward.

To fill the hour — that is happiness.

The basis of good manners is self-reliance.

As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off your miscellaneous activity and concentrate your force on one or a few...

These days come and go, but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away.

Never read any book that is not a year old

No love can be bound by oath or covenant to secure it against a higher love

Night hovers all day in the boughs of the fir tree.

Trust instinct to the end, even though you can give no reason.

To think is to act.

Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself.

The wise know that foolish legislation is a rope of sand, which perishes in the twisting.

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.

Invention breeds invention.

What forests of laurel we bring, and the tears of mankind, to those who stood firm against the opinion of their contemporaries!

Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness, — an open and noble temper.

We are a puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases.

Reform is affirmative, conservatism negative; conservatism goes for comfort, reform for truth. The Conservative

This time is a very good one if we but know what to do with it

The universal does not attract us until housed in an individual

He who has acquired the ability, may wait securely the occasion of making it felt and appreciated, and know that it will not loiter

The studious class are their own victims: they are thin and pale, their feet are cold, their heads are hot, the night is without sleep, the day a fear of interruption –pallor, squalor, hunger, and...

No orator can top the one who can give good nicknames.