14 quotes
The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance.
Nature (1836)
He is great who is what he is from Nature, and who never reminds us of others.
Representative Men (1850)
Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind.
The measure of a master is his success in bringing all men round to his opinion twenty years later.
Nature never sends a great man into the planet, without confiding the secret to another soul.
There are two classes of poets — the poets by education and practice, these we respect; and poets by nature, these we love.
Parnassus (1874)
Born for success he seemed,
With grace to win, with heart to hold,
With shining gifts that took all eyes.
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
One thing is forever good;
That one thing is Success.
Our modes of Education aim ... to do for masses what cannot be done for masses, what must be done reverently, one by one.
I fear the popular notion of success stands in direct opposition in all points to the real and wholesome success. One adores public opinion, the other, private opinion; one, fame, the other, desert; one, feats, the other, humility; one, lucre, the other, love; one, monopoly, and the other, hospitality of mind.
The great object of Education should be commensurate with the object of life. It should be a moral one; to teach self-trust; to inspire the youthful man with an interest in himself; with a curiosity touching his own nature; to acquaint him with the resources of his mind, and to teach him that there is all his strength, and to inflame him with a piety towards the Grand Mind in which he lives.
Self-trust is the first secret of success.
Attributed Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him. 6.
Attributed Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
Attributed