The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Perspective
The years teach much which the days never know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Experience · 1844

Quotes

“Every day above earth is a good day.”

Ernest Hemingway · The Old Man and the Sea, 1952 · Primary source

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”

Helen Keller · We Bereaved, 1929 · Primary source

“I’ve been banging away at this thing for 30 years. I think, I think the simple math is some projects work and some don’t and there’s no reason to belabor either one. Just get on to the next and keep telling stories.”

Brad Pitt · 2020 Screen Actors Guild Acceptance Speech, 2020 · Primary source

“In my life I had come to realize that when things were going very well indeed it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful break was apt to lurk just around the corner.”

Amelia Earhart · Last Flight, 1937 · Primary source

“One loses everything when one loses one’s sense of humor.”

Ayn Rand · The Fountainhead, 1943 · Primary source

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“True conquest is the causing the calamity to fade and disappear, as an early cloud of insignificant result in a history so large and advancing.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Circles, 1841 · Primary source

“Truth is our element of life, yet if a man fasten his attention on a single aspect of truth, and apply himself to that alone for a long time, the truth becomes distorted and not itself, but falsehood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Intellect, 1841 · Primary source

“Every ship is a romantic object, except that we sail in.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Experience, 1844 · Primary source

“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“Tears can only be cured by vision.”

Helen Keller · We Bereaved, 1929 · Primary source

“Take things always by their smooth handle.”

Thomas Jefferson · Letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith, 1825 · Primary source

“Nothing is as good or as bad as it seems.”

Scott Galloway · How Does the End Begin?, 2025 · Primary source

“Point of view is worth 80 IQ points.”

Alan Kay · Alan Kay’s talk at Creative Think seminar, 1982 · Secondary source

“Invert, always invert.”

Carl Jacobi · No reliable source

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Winston Churchill · No reliable source

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · No reliable source

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt 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.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · No reliable source

Works

Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1841
Circles

An exploration of change, intellectual growth and recurring expansion, arguing that each established idea can be surpassed by a wider perspective.

Read summary·Explore 8 quotes
Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1870
Old Age

An examination of ageing, considering its physical limitations alongside the experience, judgement, perspective and forms of independence that later life can bring.

Read summary·Explore 1 quotes

Related Tags

Self-reliance 49 Simplicity 35 Transcendentalism 32 Judgement 31 Resilience 30 Mortality 30 Experience 30 Perseverance 29 Independence 29 Uncertainty 20 Time 20 Perception 20 Learning 19 Adaptation 17 Truth 16 Problem-solving 15 Opportunity 15 Hope 12 Optimism 9 Adaptability 9 Artificial intelligence 9 Reasoning 8 Humour 7 Adversity 7 Wisdom 7 Change 7 Anticipation 6 Renewal 6 Acceptance 6 Happiness 5 Mistakes 5 Loss 5 Grief 5 Practical wisdom 5 Composure 5 Ageing 5 Worry 4 Pessimism 4 Growth 4 Idealisation 4 Anger 4 Meaning 4 Bereavement 4 Mental models 4 Intellectual growth 4 Setbacks 3 Appreciation 3 Daily life 3 Recovery 3 Dogmatism 3 Self-renewal 3 Good fortune 2 Gratitude 2 Emotional restraint 2 Expectations 2 Storytelling 2 Inversion 1 Mathematical method 1 Self-possession 1 Anxiety 1 Intellectual balance 1 Partial knowledge 1 Distance 1 Letting go 1 Emotional balance 1 Success and failure 1 Reframing 1 Insight 1