American
Philosopher,
Poet and
Essayist
(May 25,
1803 -
April 27,
1882)
"As we grow old... the beauty steals inward."
"Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss."
"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door."
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world."
Concord Hymn, Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837
"Children are all foreigners."
"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes."
"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."
"Culture is one thing and varnish is another."
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
"Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain."
"Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about."
"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
"Each moment of the year has its own beauty - a picture that was never seen before and will never be seen again."
"Earth laughs in flowers."
"Every man I meet is in some way my superior."
"Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both."
"Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world."
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could."
"A friend is one before whom I may think aloud."
"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature."
"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."
"Hitch your wagon to a star."
"In the woods we return to reason and faith."
"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
"Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams."
"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. "
"A man is what he thinks about all day long."
"Money often costs too much."
"Nobody can bring you peace but yourself."
"Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing."
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
"The only way to have a friend is to be one."
"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory."
"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding."
"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."
"The reward of a thing well done is having done it."
"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
"Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be."
"The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops, but the kind of man that the country turns out."
