My Bible --- I've taken Emerson's advice...

It just doesn't get much better than American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). I'm posting several quotes below that are a part of my Bible (a reference to Emerson's first quote below). As you read, may you savor and be inspired by them.

“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

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

“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.”

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

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”

“It is not the length of life, but the depth.”

“The earth laughs in flowers.” 

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

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

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

“Make the most of yourself....for that is all there is of you.” 

“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.”

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

“Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.”

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.”

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”

“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”