It seems that it is madder never to abandon one's self than often to be infatuated; better to be wounded, a captive and a slave, than always to walk in armor.

Art can only be truly art by presenting an adequate outward symbol of some fact in the interior life.

It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods.

We need to hear the excuses men make to themselves for their worthlessness.

Only the dreamer shall understand realities, though in truth his dreaming must be not out of proportion to his waking.

Man tells his aspiration in his God; but in his demon he shows his depth of experience.

I now know all the people worth knowing in America, and I find no intellect comparable to my own.

It is a vulgar error that love, a love, to woman is her whole existence; she is born for Truth and Love in their universal energy.

Essays, entitled critical, are epistles addressed to the public, through which the mind of the recluse relieves itself of its impressions.

Be what you would seem to be - or, if you'd like it put more simply - a house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman.

Nature provides exceptions to every rule.

Very early, I knew that the only object in life was to grow.

A house is no home unless it contain food and fire for the mind as well as for the body.

Would that the simple maxim, that honesty is the best policy, might be laid to heart; that a sense of the true aim of life might elevate the tone of politics and trade till public and private honor become identical.

The character and history of each child may be a new and poetic experience to the parent, if he will let it.

It should be remarked that, as the principle of liberty is better understood, and more nobly interpreted, a broader protest is made in behalf of women. As men become aware that few have had a fair chance, they are inclined to say that no women have had a fair chance.

Drudgery is as necessary to call out the treasures of the mind, as harrowing and planting those of the earth.

It seems that it is madder never to abandon one's self than often to be infatuated; better to be wounded, a captive and a slave, than always to walk in armor.

Beware of over-great pleasure in being popular or even beloved.

The especial genius of women I believe to be electrical in movement, intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency.

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.

The use of criticism, in periodical writing, is to sift, not to stamp a work.

I am suffocated and lost when I have not the bright feeling of progression.

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.

Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.

For precocity some great price is always demanded sooner or later in life.

Two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold.

Essays entitled critical are epistles addressed to the public through which the mind of the recluse relieves itself of its impressions.

When the intellect and affections are in harmony; when intellectual consciousness is calm and deep; inspiration will not be confounded with fancy.

Every fact is impure, but every fact contains in it the juices of life. Every fact is a cold, from which may grow an amaranth or a palm.

Reverence the highest, have patience with the lowest. Let this day's performance of the meanest duty be thy religion. Are the stars too distant, pick up the pebble that lies at thy feet, and from it learn the all.

Tremble not before the free man, but before the slave who has chains to break.

All great expression, which on a superficial survey seems so easy as well as so simple, furnishes after a while, to the faithful observer, its own standard by which to appreciate it.

The painter... does not fit the paints to the world. He most certainly does not fit the world to himself. He fits himself to the paint. The self is the servant who bears the paintbox and its inherited contents.

Love is a mutual self-giving which ends in self-recovery.

I would rather take the role and work and make my own money and self respect than to have sex with someone who has a lot of money.

Lying is the most simple form of self-defence.

Sexual self-restraint is only a preliminary stage in the ego's evolution.

The intelligence of the lower forms of animal life, like a great deal of human intelligence, does not involve a self.

If you improve a teacher's self-esteem, confidence, communication skills or stress levels, you improve that teacher's overall effectiveness across the curriculum.

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.

I think we all have blocks between us and the best version of ourselves, whether it's shyness, insecurity, anxiety, whether it's a physical block, and the story of a person overcoming that block to their best self. It's truly inspiring because I think all of us are engaged in that every day.

Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self?

Self-justification is a treacherous servant.

To be able to throw one's self away for the sake of a moment, to be able to sacrifice years for a woman's smile - that is happiness.

Oh, God, I struggle with low self-esteem all the time! I think everyone does. I have so much wrong with me, it's unbelievable!

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.