A man is like a bit of Labrador spar, which has no luster as you turn it in your hand, until you come to a particular angle; then it shows deep and beautiful colors.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Empowering Luster quotations
I have come to light the lamp of love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added luster.
There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!
The work of art, just like any fragment of human life considered in its deepest meaning, seems to me devoid of value if it does not offer the hardness, the rigidity, the regularity, the luster on every interior and exterior facet, of the crystal.
Almsgiving above all else requires money, but even this shines with a brighter luster when the alms are given from our poverty. The widow who paid in the two mites was poorer than any human, but she outdid them all.
As in nature, as in art, so in grace;
it is rough treatment that gives souls, as well as stones, their luster.
A grub in filth is dirty, but it changes into a cicada and sips dew in the autumn breeze. Rotting plants have no luster, but they turn into foxfire and glow in the summer moonlight. So we know that purity emerges from impurity, and light is born from darkness.
Individuals may wear for a time the glory of our institutions, but they carry it not to the grave with them. Like raindrops from heaven, they may pass through the circle of the shining bow and add to its luster; but when they have sunk in the earth again, the proud arch still spans the sky and shines gloriously on.
It is singular how soon we lose the impression of what ceases to be constantly before us. A year impairs, a luster obliterates. There is little distinct left without an effort of memory, then indeed the lights are rekindled for a moment --but who can be sure that the Imagination is not the torch-bearer?
Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.
The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies;
the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.
The plainer the dress, the greater luster does beauty appear.
When you're a kid, nine times out of 10, everthing is pure depending on how you grow up. Everything is new as a kid, so it's all amazing and wonderful. But as we get older, things start to lose their luster or possibly their relevance. Things don't mean as much as they did then. I know the feeling.
An honor prudently declined often returns with increased luster.
There is a harmony In autumn, and a luster in its sky...
Words today are like the shells and rope of seaweed which a child brings home glistening from the beach and which in an hour have lost their luster.
It is perhaps true that that sort of sexual energy wanes over time - as the original impetus loses its luster. And then, I suppose, it's on to the next thing. But eros is eternal, like joy.
Every man who praises himself brushes the luster from his best efforts.
If you take life at face value, it loses its luster pretty quickly.
If you go after it, you get more out of it.
Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility.
An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
Nothing is as it seems. Black can appear white when the light is blinding but white loses all luster at the faintest sign of darkness.
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages
There comes a time, thief, when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a father's love for his child.
The plainer the dress, the greater luster does beauty appear.
When malice has reason on its side, it looks forth bravely, and displays that reason in all its luster. When austerity and self-denial have not realized true happiness, and the soul returns to the dictates of nature, the reaction is fearfully extravagant.
Novelty is to love like bloom to fruit;
it gives a luster which is easily effaced, but never returns.
It warms the blood, adds luster to the eyes, and wine and love have ever been allies.
One shining quality lends a luster to another, or hides some glaring defect.
How thankful I am, how thankful we all must be, for the women in our lives.
God bless them. May His great love distill upon them and crown them with luster and beauty, grace and faith.
As in nature, as in art, so in grace;
it is rough treatment that gives souls, as well as stones, their luster. The more the diamond is cut the brighter it sparkles; and in what seems hard dealing, there God has no end in view but to perfect His people.
Rising genius always shoots out its rays from among the clouds, but these will gradually roll away and disappear as it ascends to its steady luster.
Youth enters the world with very happy prejudices in her own favor.
She imagines herself not only certain of accomplishing every adventure, but of obtaining those rewards which the accomplishment may deserve. She is not easily persuaded to believe that the force of merit can be resisted by obstinacy and avarice, or its luster darkened by envy and malignity.
A sparkling house is a fine thing if the children aren't robbed of their luster in keeping it that way.
All great tasks test our motivation. It's easy to court ideas over beers and change the world with napkin sketches, but like most things taken home from bars, new challenges arise the next day. It's in the morning light when work begins, and grand ideas (or barroom conquests) lose their luster. To do interesting things requires work and it's no surprise we abandon demanding passions for simpler, easier, more predictable things.
Why allow all the old memories to have supremacy? Make new ones, memories of such luster and beauty that, should the old ones come back, they would be pallid and impotent in comparison.