top of page
Writer's pictureLisa Edwards

50 Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes to Inspire a Life Filled with Self-Love & Self-Belief

Updated: Apr 29

woman standing holding arms up in the air at sunset with blog title

Ralph Waldo Emerson led the transcendentalist movement back in the mid-19th century. And his works and quotes are as relevant today as they have always been. Hope you enjoy these 50 Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson.



Dandelion seeds blowing away

1. What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered.

2. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

3. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.

4. Make the most of yourself - for that is all there is of you.

5. To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you into something else is the greatest accomplishment.

6. All of life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

7. Always do what you are afraid to do.

8. Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All of life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

9. What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

10. A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave 5 minutes longer.


painting canvas on artist easel

11. Every artist was once an amateur.

12. The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.

13. I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.

14. When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.


Blue sky, field full of colourful flowers red heart in the middle.

15. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.

16. Beware what you set your heart upon, for it surely shall be yours.

17. Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.

18. Hitch your wagon to a star.

19. Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.

20. For every minute you are angry you lose sixty second of happiness.

21. Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself.

22. To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy is to set your own conditions to the events of each day. To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them.

23. Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

24. Every man I meet is my superior in some way, in that, I learn of him.

25. It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.

26. The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.

27. He who has a thousand friends has not one friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.

28. You can never do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

29. Adopt the pace of nature: her secret in patience.

30. Earth laughs in flowers.

31. In the woods is perpetual youth.


Woman smiling in clear ocean water with sun hat and sunglasses on.

32. Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink in the wild air.

33. Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.

34. Do the thing you fear and the death of the fear is certain.

35. There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don't allow yourself to become one of them.

36. A man is what he thinks about all day long.

37. The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is , and all that will ever be.

38. Finish each day before you begin the next and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two.

39. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

40. Do the thing you love and you will have the power.

41. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

42. The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit.


Woman with back pack walking across field.

43. Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

44. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.

45. Make the most of yourself, for that is all there all there is of you.

46. Little minds have big worries, Big minds have no time for worries.

47. What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

48. Every wall is a door.

49. People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

50. Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

I hope you enjoyed these 50 Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes to Inspire a Life Filled with Self-Love & Self-Belief, don't forget to pin them to your Pinterest boards for later :)


Drop in to my Etsy store Positive Life by Design for great printables to help you on your journey.


Lisa Edwards meditating by the ocean with signature



Don't forget to follow us on

Pinterest PT4Beginners

Comments


bottom of page