"Speak as you think, be what you..." - Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speak as you think, be what you are, pay your debts of all kinds. I prefer to be owned as sound and solvent, and my word as good as my bond, and to be what cannot be skipped, or dissipated, or undermined, to all the eclat in the universe. This reality is the foundation of friendship, religion, poetry, and art.
More by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Teaching is the perpetual end and office of all things. Teaching, instruction is the main design that shines through the sky and earth.”
“Nature has made up her mind that what cannot defend itself shall not be defended.”
“We say that every man is entitled to be valued by his best moment. We measure our friends so. We know, they have intervals of folly, whereof we take no heed, but wait the reappearings of the genius, which are sure and beautiful.”
More on Authenticity
“We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.”
“No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.”
“Learn the words of wisdom uttered by the wise and apply them in your own life. Live them - but do not a make a show of reciting them, for he who repeats what he does not understand is no better than an ass loaded with books.”
More on Integrity
“Although you have so far demonstrated little faith in my ability to pay, I yet hope to demonstrate that I am somebody who pays his debts-for example, to you.”
“Integrity is not a given factor in everyone's life. It is a result of self-discipline, inner trust, and a decision to be relentlessly honest in all situations in our lives.”
“The first key to greatness is to be in reality what we appear to be.”