Quotes
Quotes - Lowell
But life is sweet, though all that makes it sweet
Lessen like sound of friends' departing feet;
And Death is beautiful as feet of friend
Coming with welcome at our journey's end.
For me Fate gave, whate'er she else denied,
A nature sloping to the southern side;
I thank her for it, though when clouds arise
Such natures double-darken gloomy skies.
In life's small things be resolute and great
To keep thy muscle trained: know'st thou when Fate
Thy measure takes, or when she'll say to thee,
"I find thee worthy; do this deed for me"?
In vain we call old notions fudge,
And bend our conscience to our dealing;
The Ten Commandments will not budge,
And stealing will continue stealing.
God, give us Peace! not such as lulls to sleep,
But sword on thigh and brow with purpose knit!
And let our Ship of State to harbor sweep,
Her ports all up, her battle lanterns lit,
And her leashed thunders gathering for their leap.
Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.
A wise scepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.
One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.
Aspiration sees only one side of every question; possession many.
Truly there is a tide in the affairs of men; but there is no gulf-stream setting forever in one direction.
There is no better ballast for keeping the mind steady on its keel, and saving it from all risk of crankiness, than business.
Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of religious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democracy.
It was in making education not only common to all, but in some sense compulsory on all, that the destiny of the free republics of America was practically settled.
Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose power a man is.
There is no work of genius which has not been the delight of mankind, no word of genius to which the human heart and soul have not sooner or later responded.
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
Sentiment is intellectualized emotion,--emotion precipitated, as it were, in pretty crystals by the fancy.
No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.
The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers, is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.
It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
What a sense of security in an old book which Time has criticised for us!
There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.
Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.
The soil out of which such men as he are made is good to be born on, good to live on, good to die for and to be buried in.
If I were asked what book is better than a cheap book, I should answer that there is one book better than a cheap book,--and that is a book honestly come by.
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never happen.
