Jane's Obsession.

Ok, so I have many obsessions.

This is just today's.

Meet...

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

He lead the Transcendentalist movement in America and wrote lots of essays and poems that are KICK BUTT.

Let me put a few quotes down to show you:
"We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds."

"Character is higher than intellect. Thinking is the function. Living is the functionary."

"There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or three hundred years ago, says that which lies close to my own soul..."

"Man hopes. Genius creates. To create,--to create,--is the proof of a divine presence. Whatever talents may be, if the man create not, the pure efflux of the Deity is not his:--cinders and smoke, there may be, but not yet flame."

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” 

“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.”  

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” 

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”  

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

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."

If anyone were to get me a book of his essays for Christmas or something...I would not mind at all.

Truly glorious.