Ralph Waldo Emerson

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

This quote is found in the following categories: Duty Quotes Integrity/Individuality Quotes Solitude Quotes Success Quotes
Return to Main for a list of all categories
Google
 
Web www.wisdomquotes.com
Credits and Copyright
Copyright © 1995-2009 Jone Johnson Lewis. All Rights Reserved.
Please feel free to borrow a few quotations as you need them (that's what I did!). But please respect the creative work of compiling these quotations, and do not take larger sections.

More information on copyright and credits on the Main page.