Ralph Waldo Emerson on Saint Patrick's Day
1803–1882 United States
← All quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson
14 quotes
The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.
Society and Solitude (1870)
The only way to have a good friend is to be one.
Essays (1841)
The highest compact we can make with our fellow, is, — "Let there be truth between us two forevermore".
Nature magically suits the man to his fortunes, by making these the fruit of his character.
There can never be deep peace between two spirits, never mutual respect, until, in their dialogue, each stands for the whole world.
I hate the prostitution of the name of friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances.
Deep in the man sits fast his fate
To mould his fortunes, mean or great.
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
The condition which high friendship demands is ability to do without it.
Friendship should be surrounded with ceremonies and respects, and not crushed into corners. Friendship requires more time than poor, busy men can usually command.
A day for toil, an hour for sport,
But for a friend is life too short.
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.
The wise man … needs no bribe or feast or palace to draw friends to him. He is supremely fair. He angles with himself and with no other bait.
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances: It was somebody's name, or he happened to be there at the time, or, it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Our friends early appear to us as representatives of certain ideas, which they never pass or exceed. They stand on the brink of the ocean of thought and power, but they never take a single step that would bring them there.
Essays (1841)