"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 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 even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded. " ~ Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. Among the core beliefs of Transcendentalists was the conception that an ideal spiritual state 'transcends' the physical and empirical [provable by means of observation or experiment] and is only realized through the individual's intuition [contemplation or meditation], rather than through the doctrines of established religions.

For more information, begin with Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson