“Our ideals are our better selves.”

— Amos Bronson Alcott, Table-Talk, 1877, Bk I: Practical, v: Habits, Friendship, p. 77

About Amos Bronson Alcott

1799 – 1888

American teacher and transcendentalist philosopher, father of Louisa May Alcott.

“Stay is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.”

“Genius is but the free and harmonious play of all the faculties of a human being.”

“Faith is the soul of all improvement. It is the Will of an Idea.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”