Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

[E]ach of our voices has something unique to say. Not only should I not mold my life to the demands of external conformity; I can't even find the model by which to live outside myself. I can only find it within.

Don't imitate: imitation creates falsity, pseudo-ness, inauthenticity. Just feel your own way and don't bother about what others say. It is nobody else's business. Don't bother about what churches say, organizations say - listen to your own heart.

Feel your intentions in your heart. Feel not what your mind tells you, but what your heart tells you.

Play my own game. You can read all the books, but you have to listen to your intuition and not do everything exactly as they say. You have to do what feels right.

Be Sure you Are Stepping to the Music you Hear - No Matter what Other People Think.

You have to learn to follow your heart. You can’t let other people pressure you into being something that you’re not. If you want God’s favor in your life, you must be the person He made you to be, not the person your boss wants you to be, not even the person your parents or your husband wants you to be. You can’t let outside expectations keep you from following your own heart.

Keep true to the rare music in your heart, to the marvelous and unique form that is and shall always be nothing else but you. Keep to that and you can do no wrong, which I realize is easier said than done.

When we think too much about the opinions of others, we are letting them edit a book God has written.

The man who does not wish to belong to the mass needs only to cease taking himself easily; let him follow his conscience, which calls to him: "Be your self! All you are now doing, thinking, desiring, is not you yourself.

It's very important not to do what your peers think you should do, not do what your parents think,your teachers or even your culture. Do what's inside of you.

The 'still, small voice' of God never calls on me to be like another man. It appeals to me to rise to my full stature and fulfill the promise that sleeps within my being.

Be governed by your internal compass, not by some clock on the wall.

Accept your genius and say what you think.

If one listens to the faintest but constant suggestions of his genius, which are certainly true, he sees not to what extremes, or even insanity, it may lead him; and yet that way, as he grows more resolute and faithful, his road lies.

Do be true to yourself, whether it's bad doesn't matter. The important thing - you have to copy while you're studying. And culture is - each of us - is like one pearl added to another to make a chain. We each contribute to the other. And that's all right. But once you're on your own, do that which comes from within. And I feel this very strongly.

Don't strive for somebody else's notion of perfection. It's an unattainable and ultimately ridiculous goal. Strive instead to be uniquely yourself and when in doubt listen to your gut, because it already knows what you want to become.

He used to say we all had a compass inside of us and what we needed to do was to find it and to follow it.

I don't believe that everyone else really cares what I do all the time. I think in general you have to follow your own path and your own heart and not worry about what everybody else wants you to do. They should be worried about what they're going to do.

Just staying true to yourself and staying true to your passion. Following your gut.

Every individual man has a bias which he must obey, and...it is only as he feels and obeys this that he rightly develops and attains his legitimate power in the world. It is his magnetic needle, which points always in one direction to his proper path.... He is never happy nor strong until he finds it, keeps it.

Faith is not in your head. Faith is in your heart. Sometimes you have to turn your mind off and listen to your heart.

If you are really true to yourself and really follow your intuition in the most rigorous way, there is a moment that becomes universal, that reaches everybody. That’s the real magic of Björk-she teaches us the courage to be ourselves.

The world is full of people who have stopped listening to themselves or have listened only to their neighbors to learn what they ought to do, how they ought to behave, and what the values are they should be living for.

My own mind is the direct revelation which I have from God and far least liable to mistake in telling his will of any revelation.

Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.