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Ralph Waldo Emerson on Success

1803–1882 United States

← All quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson

10 quotes

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.

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.

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.

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

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ralph Waldo Emerson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.