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

“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

“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

Inversion 1 Problem-solving 9 Mathematical method 1 Reasoning 7 Resilience 28 Uncertainty 19 Setbacks 3 Good fortune 2 Humour 6 Self-possession 1 Adversity 6 Gratitude 2 Mortality 30 Appreciation 3 Daily life 3 Worry 4 Anxiety 1 Anticipation 6 Optimism 9 Pessimism 2 Opportunity 14 Growth 4 Recovery 3 Truth 16 Intellectual balance 1 Partial knowledge 1 Dogmatism 3 Experience 28 Time 20 Wisdom 7 Learning 18 Perception 20 Idealisation 4 Distance 1 Anger 4 Happiness 5 Emotional restraint 2 Renewal 6 Mistakes 5 Letting go 1 Acceptance 5 Simplicity 24 Self-reliance 48 Loss 5 Adaptation 17 Grief 5 Hope 12 Meaning 4 Bereavement 4 Practical wisdom 5 Composure 4 Adaptability 6 Judgement 29 Change 7 Intellectual growth 4 Self-renewal 3 Transcendentalism 32 Ageing 5 Independence 29