Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

To make big steps, you've got to take action yourself and not listen to other people.

It all has to come from inside, though, I guess.

I believe that in the pursuit of education, individual desire is more influential than institution, and personal faith more forceful than faculty.

That power of the individual person - just the girl - is infinite.

Self-help must precede help from others. Even for making certain of help from heaven, one has to help oneself.

Thoroughly to believe in one's own self, so one's self were thorough, were to do great things.

The air will always be to filled with something. Your body too sore or tired. Your father too drunk. Your wife too cold. You will always have some excuse not to live your life.

So long as a man is faithful to himself, everything is in his favor, government, society, the very sun, moon, and stars.

But while I breathe Heaven's air and Heaven looks down on me, And smiles at my best meanings, I remain Mistress of mine own self and mine own soul.

Our elevation must be the result of self-efforts and work of our own hands. No other human power can accomplish it. If we but determine it shall be so, it will be so.

The only real danger to our country is from within, that we forget our own power to be what we want to be.

...there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do -- determined to save the only life you could save.

You can fall out of a tree pose with ease, or with frustration and a sense of defeat. Just like you can take a spill in your life and decide to dust yourself off - with a chuckle or an annoyed grunt - and get back up, or you can stay down, lie there, and give up. It's entirely up to you. It's your life, and your practice.

If you are weak, dependent upon others, inclined to allow yourself to be dominated by opinion, to take root wherever you see a little soil, make for yourself a shield that will resist everything, for if you yield to your weaker nature you will not grow, you will dry up like a dead plant, and you will bear neither fruit nor flowers.

Man is made or unmade by himself. In the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself. He also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.

If you're sitting around waiting on somebody to save you, to fix you, to even help you, you are wasting your time because only you have the power to take responsibility to move your life forward.

Human potential is the same for all. If you have will power, then you can change anything.

There is no thing we cannot overcome Say not thy evil instinct is inherited, Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn, And calls down punishment that is not merited.

Remember: you are the only person who thinks in your mind! You are the power and authority in your world.

I even move out onto the front porch and see my own limited view of the world. I want to take that world, and for the first time ever, I feel like I can do it. I’ve survived everything I’ve had to so far. I’m still standing here.

Nothing save divine power is capable of doing so much for man as he can for himself.

On our track to success, we have to fight the tendency to look at others and see how far they've come. The only thing that counts is how we use the potential we possess and that we run our race to the best of our abilities.

Don't be concerned with other people's impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone will strengthen your will and give your life coherence.

I stopped waiting for the world to give me what I wanted; I started giving it to myself.

I do not want to give my power, my self-esteem, or my autonomy, to any person, place, or thing outside myself... The only thing that matters is how I feel about myself, my personal integrity, and my relationship with my Creator.