The blossoms, down in the meadow,In the gardens, and woods, and the hills,Are singing, too, with their playmates,The birds, and the breezes, and rills.And I think, if you listen closely,In the sweet glad days of spring,With the song of the brook, the breeze, and the birds,You can hear the flowers sing.
—Moorehouse
Good-night, little shivering grasses!'Tis idle to struggle and fightWith tempest and cruel frost-fingers;Lie down, little grasses, to-night!Good-night, little shivering grasses!Lie down 'neath the coverlet white,And rest till the cuckoo is singing;Good-night, little grasses, good-night!
—A November Good-night.—Beers
Daffydowndilly came up in the cold,Through the brown mould,Although the March breezes blew keen on her face,Although the white snow lay on many a place.I can't do much yet, but I'll do what I can.It's well I began!For unless I can manage to lift up my head,The people will think that the Spring herself's dead.O Daffydowndilly, so brave and so true,I wish all were like you!So ready for duty in all sorts of weather,And holding forth courage and beauty together.
—Warner
One to-day is worth two to-morrow's.—Poor Richard's Almanac
One to-day is worth two to-morrow's.—Poor Richard's Almanac
The future is purchased by the present.—Samuel Johnson
The future is purchased by the present.—Samuel Johnson
The sober second thought is always essential, and seldom wrong.—Martin Van Buren
The sober second thought is always essential, and seldom wrong.—Martin Van Buren
Recollect that trifles make perfection, and that perfection is no trifle.—Michael Angelo
Recollect that trifles make perfection, and that perfection is no trifle.—Michael Angelo
Have more than thou showest,Speak less than thou knowest.
—Shakespeare
Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.—O. W. Holmes
Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.—O. W. Holmes
Let all the end thou aim'st at be thy country's,Thy God's and truth's.
—Shakespeare
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Learn to obey and you will know how to command.—Lubbock
Learn to obey and you will know how to command.—Lubbock
One who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do.
One who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do.
Be not simply good, be good for something.—Thoreau
Be not simply good, be good for something.—Thoreau
The better part of valour is discretion.—Shakespeare
The better part of valour is discretion.—Shakespeare
They that touch pitch will be defiled.—Shakespeare
They that touch pitch will be defiled.—Shakespeare
Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.—Shakespeare
Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.—Shakespeare
Honour and shame from no condition rise;Act well your part, there all the honour lies.
—Pope
True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice.—Ben Jonson
True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice.—Ben Jonson
One "do" is worth a thousand "don'ts" in the destruction of evil or the production of good.—Hughes
One "do" is worth a thousand "don'ts" in the destruction of evil or the production of good.—Hughes
I look upon the simple and childish virtues of veracity and honesty as the root of all that is sublime in character.—Emerson
I look upon the simple and childish virtues of veracity and honesty as the root of all that is sublime in character.—Emerson
Remember that though it is a good thing to be a great man, it is a great thing to be a good man.
Remember that though it is a good thing to be a great man, it is a great thing to be a good man.
Striving not to be rich or great,Never questioning fortune or fate,Contented slowly to earn, and wait.
In the workshop, on the farm,Or wherever you may be,From your future efforts, boys,Comes a nation's destiny.
It is a low benefit to give me something; it is a high benefit to enable me to do something of myself.—Emerson
It is a low benefit to give me something; it is a high benefit to enable me to do something of myself.—Emerson
Greatly begin! though thou hast timeBut for a line, be that sublime,—Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
—Lowell
Never give up! 'Tis the secret of glory;Nothing so wise can philosophy preach;Look at the lives that are famous in story;"Never give up" is the lesson they teach.
It is a good thing to be rich, and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be beloved of many friends.—Euripides
It is a good thing to be rich, and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be beloved of many friends.—Euripides
Do what conscience says is right;Do what reason says is best;Do with all your mind and might;Do your duty, and be blest.
What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour.—Bulwer-Lytton
What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour.—Bulwer-Lytton
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,So near is God to man,When Duty whispers low,Thou must,The soul repliesI can.
—Emerson
Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and it becomes so strong we cannot break it.—Horace Mann
Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and it becomes so strong we cannot break it.—Horace Mann
Ponder well, and know the right,Onward then, with all thy might!Haste not! years can ne'er atoneFor one reckless action done.
—Goethe
Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.—Carlyle
Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.—Carlyle
Slight is the sting of his trouble whose winnings are less than his worth:For he who is honest is noble, whatever his fortune or birth.
—Alice Cary
Press on! There's no such word as fail!Push nobly on! The goal is near!Ascend the mountain! Breast the gale!Look upward, onward—never fear!
He who has a thousand friendsHas not a friend to spare;And he who has one enemyWill meet him everywhere.
—Omar Khayyam
Work for some good, be it ever so slowly;Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly;Labour!—all labour is noble and holy.
—Frances S. Osgood
A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong; which is but saying in other words that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday.—Pope
A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong; which is but saying in other words that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday.—Pope
Tender-handed stroke a nettle,And it stings you for your pains;Grasp it like a man of mettle,And it soft as silk remains.
Fill up each hour with what will last;Buy up the moments as they go;The life above, when this is past,Is the ripe fruit of life below.
New occasions teach new duties; time makes ancient good uncouth;They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth.
—Lowell
The heights by great men reached and kept,Were not attained by sudden flight;But they, while their companions slept,Were toiling upward in the night.
—Longfellow
Nothing useless is, or low,Each thing in its place is best,And what seems but idle showStrengthens and supports the rest.
—Longfellow
And not by eastern windows only,When daylight comes, comes in the light,In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly,But westward, look, the land is bright.
—Clough
Full many a gem of purest ray sereneThe dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear;Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
—Gray
If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.—Benjamin Franklin
If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.—Benjamin Franklin
I do not knowWhere falls the seed that I have tried to sowWith greatest care;But I shall knowThe meaning of each waiting hour belowSometime, somewhere!
Lives of great men all remind usWe can make our lives sublime,And, departing, leave behind usFootprints on the sands of time;Let us, then, be up and doing,With a heart for any fate;Still achieving, still pursuing,Learn to labour and to wait.
—Longfellow
Begin while life is bright and young,Work out each noble plan;True knowledge lends a charm to youth,And dignifies the man.Then upward, onward, step by step,With perseverance rise,And emulate, with hearts of hope,The good, the great, the wise.
The night has a thousand eyes,And the day but one;Yet the light of the bright world dies,With the dying sun.The mind has a thousand eyes,And the heart but one;Yet the light of a whole life diesWhen love is done.
—Francis Bourdillon
In the darkness as in daylight,On the water as on land,God's eye is looking on us,And beneath us is His hand!Death will find us soon or later,On the deck or in the cot;And we cannot meet him betterThan in working out our lot.
—Whittier
The Royal Navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength—the floating bulwark of our Island.—Blackstone'sCommentaries
The Royal Navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength—the floating bulwark of our Island.—Blackstone'sCommentaries
It is the land that freemen till,That sober-suited Freedom chose.The land, where girt with friends or foesA man may speak the thing he will;A land of settled government,A land of just and old renown,Where Freedom slowly broadens downFrom precedent to precedent.
—Tennyson
O triune kingdom of the brave,O sea-girt island of the free,O empire of the land and waveOur hearts, our hands, are all for thee.Stand, Canadians, firmly stand,Round the flag of our Fatherland.
—Laclede
Sharers of our glorious past,Brothers, must we part at last?Shall we not thro' good and illCleave to one another still?Britain's myriad voices call,"Sons, be welded each and allInto one Imperial whole,One with Britain, heart and soul!One life, one flag, one fleet, one Throne!"Britons, hold your own!
—Tennyson
"England! What thou wert, thou art!"Gird thee with thine ancient might.Forth! and God defend the Right.
—Newbolt
Believe not each accusing tongue,As most weak people do;But still believe that story wrongWhich ought not to be true.
—Sheridan
He prayeth best who loveth bestAll things, both great and small,For the dear God who loveth us,He made and loveth all.
—Coleridge
For whatever men say in blindness,And spite of the fancies of youth,There's nothing so kingly as Kindness,And nothing so royal as Truth.
—Alice Cary
To do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being.—Lubbock
To do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being.—Lubbock
Small service is true service while it lasts.Of humblest friends, bright creature! scorn not one:The daisy, by the shadow that it casts,Protects the lingering dew-drops from the sun.
—Wordsworth
Look up and not down;Look forward and not back;Look out and not in;And lend a hand.
—Hale
Have you had a kindness shown?Pass it on.'Twas not given for you alone,Pass it on.Let it travel down the years,Let it wipe another's tears;Till in heaven the deed appears.Pass it on.
A little spring had lost its wayAmid the grass and fern;A passing stranger scooped a wellWhere weary men might turn.He walled it in, and hung with care,A ladle on the brink;He thought not of the deed he did,But judged that Toil might drink.He passed again; and lo! the well,By summer never dried,Had cooled ten thousand parchèd tongues,And saved a life beside.
—Mackay
Evil is wrought by want of thoughtAs well as want of heart.
—Hood
Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.—Epictetus
Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.—Epictetus
Count that day lost whose low-descending sunViews from thy hand no worthy action done.
If happiness have not her seatAnd centre in the breast,We may be wise or rich or great,But never can be blest.
—Burns
A kindly act is a kernel sown,That will grow to a goodly tree,Shedding its fruit when time has flown,Down the gulf of eternity.
If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain;If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain,Or help one fainting robinInto his nest again,I shall not live in vain.
—Dickinson
It is pleasant to think, just under the snow,That stretches so bleak and blank and cold,Are beauty and warmth that we cannot know,Green fields and leaves and blossoms of gold.
Under the green hedges after the snow,There do the dear little violets grow,Hiding their modest and beautiful headsUnder the hawthorn in soft, mossy beds.Sweet as the roses, and blue as the sky,Down there do the dear little violets lie;Hiding their heads where they scarce may be seen,By the leaves you may know where the violets have been.
—Moultrie
The linnet is singing the wild wood through;The fawn's bounding footsteps skim over the dew.The butterfly flits round the blossoming tree,And the cowslip and bluebell are bent by the bee;All the creatures that dwell in the forest are gay,And why should not I be as merry as they?
—Mitford
Do the duty which lies nearest thee!Thy second duty will already have become clearer.
—Carlyle
Live truly, and thy life shall beA great and noble creed.
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;I woke, and found that life was Duty.
—Hooper
Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending.—Longfellow
Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending.—Longfellow
Opinions shape ideals, and it is ideals that inspire conduct.—John Morley
Opinions shape ideals, and it is ideals that inspire conduct.—John Morley
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself into one.—Froude
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself into one.—Froude
Not once or twice in our fair island storyThe path of duty was the way to glory.
—Tennyson
Know thy work and do it, and work at it like a Hercules. One monster there is in the world—an idle man.—Carlyle
Know thy work and do it, and work at it like a Hercules. One monster there is in the world—an idle man.—Carlyle
Every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor. We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.—Emerson
Every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor. We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.—Emerson
In every common hour of life,In every flame that glows,In every breath of being rifeWith aspiration or of strifeMan feels more than he knows.
—W. W. Campbell
Never to the bow that bendsComes the arrow that it sends;Never comes the chance that passed:That one moment was its last.
Oh, fear not in a world like this,And thou shalt know ere long,Know how sublime a thing it isTo suffer and be strong.
—H. W. Longfellow
Sow an act, and reap a tendency; sow a tendency, and reap a habit; sow a habit, and reap a character; sow a character, and reap a destiny.—Thackeray
Sow an act, and reap a tendency; sow a tendency, and reap a habit; sow a habit, and reap a character; sow a character, and reap a destiny.—Thackeray
The gifts that we have, heaven lends for right using, and not for ignoring, and not for abusing.
The gifts that we have, heaven lends for right using, and not for ignoring, and not for abusing.
It is not what he has, nor even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.—Journal—Amiel
It is not what he has, nor even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.—Journal—Amiel
My good blade carves the casques of men,My tough lance thrusteth sure,My strength is as the strength of ten,Because my heart is pure.
—Tennyson
True worth is inbeing, notseeming,—In doing each day that goes bySome little good—not in the dreamingOf great things to do by and by.
No work which God sets a man to do—no work to which God has specially adapted a man's powers—can properly be called either menial or mean.—Carlyle
No work which God sets a man to do—no work to which God has specially adapted a man's powers—can properly be called either menial or mean.—Carlyle
Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;Th' eternal years of God are hers;But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,And dies among his worshippers.
—Bryant
To thine own self be true;And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou can'st not then be false to any man.
—Shakespeare
No lifeCan be pure in its purpose or strong in its strifeAnd all life not be purer and stronger thereby.
—Lytton
Knowledge and wisdom far from being one, have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.—Cowper
Knowledge and wisdom far from being one, have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.—Cowper
Wish not to taste what doth not to thee fall;Do well thyself, before thou striv'st to lead,And truth shall thee deliver without dread.
—Geoffrey Chaucer
Oh, many a shaft, at random sent,Finds mark the archer little meant!And many a word at random spoken,May soothe, or wound, a heart that's broken.
—Sir W. Scott
Govern the lips as they were palace doors, the king within. Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words which from that presence win.
Govern the lips as they were palace doors, the king within. Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words which from that presence win.
—Edwin Arnold
Whene'er a noble deed is wrought,Whene'er is spoken a noble thought,Our hearts, in glad surprise,To higher levels rise.
—Longfellow
Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee;Corruption wins not more than honesty.Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,To silence envious tongues; be just, and fear not.
—Shakespeare
Not by the power of commerce, art, or pen,Shall our great Empire stand, nor has it stood,But by the noble deeds of noble men—Heroic lives and heroes' outpoured blood.
—F. G. Scott
Take up the white man's burden—In patience to abide,To veil the threat of terrorAnd check the show of pride;By open speech and simple,An hundred times made plain,To seek another's profitAnd work another's gain.
—Kipling
Love thou thy land, with love far-broughtFrom out the storied Past, and usedWithin the Present, but transfusedThro' future time by power of thought.
—Tennyson
For as long as conquest holds the earth,Or commerce sweeps the sea,By orient jungle or western plainWill the Saxon spirit be;And whatever the people that dwell beneath,Or whatever the alien tongue,Over the freedom and peace of the worldIs the flag of England flung.
—W. W. Campbell
Of old sat Freedom on the heights,The thunders breaking at her feet;Above her shook the starry lights;She heard the torrents meet.Her open eyes desire the truth.The wisdom of a thousand yearsIs in them. May perpetual youthKeep dry their light from tears.
—Tennyson
If I have faltered more or lessIn my great task of happiness;If I have moved among my raceAnd shown no glorious morning face;If beams from happy, human eyesHave moved me not; if morning skies,Books, and my food, and summer rainKnocked on my sullen heart in vain—Lord, Thy most pointed pleasure take,And stab my spirit broad awake.
—R. L. Stevenson
A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.—Milton
A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.—Milton
The book which makes a man think the most is the book which strikes the deepest root in his memory and understanding.
The book which makes a man think the most is the book which strikes the deepest root in his memory and understanding.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
—Shakespeare
No book is worth anything which is not worthmuch;nor is it serviceable until it has been read and re-read, and loved, and loved again; and marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it, as a soldier can seize the weapon he needs in an armoury, or a housewife bring the spice she needs from her store. Bread of flour is good; but there is bread, sweet as honey, if we would eat it, in a good book.—Ruskin
No book is worth anything which is not worthmuch;nor is it serviceable until it has been read and re-read, and loved, and loved again; and marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it, as a soldier can seize the weapon he needs in an armoury, or a housewife bring the spice she needs from her store. Bread of flour is good; but there is bread, sweet as honey, if we would eat it, in a good book.—Ruskin
Goodness moves in a larger sphere than justice. The obligations of law and equity reach only to mankind, but kindness and beneficence should be extended to creatures of every species.—Plutarch
Goodness moves in a larger sphere than justice. The obligations of law and equity reach only to mankind, but kindness and beneficence should be extended to creatures of every species.—Plutarch
My heart leaps up when I beholdA rainbow in the sky;So was it when my life began,So is it now I am a man,So be it when I shall grow old,Or let me die.The child is father of the man;And I could wish my days to beBound each to each by natural piety.
—Wordsworth
Be but yourself, be pure, be true,And prompt in duty; heed the deepLow voice of conscience; through the illAnd discord round about you, keepYour faith in human nature still.
—Elizabeth Whittier
Four things a man must learn to doIf he would make his record true;To think, without confusion, clearly;To love his fellow-men sincerely:To act from honest motives purely;To trust in God and Heaven securely.
—Henry Van Dyke
Give thy thoughts no tongue,Nor any unproportioned thought his act.Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.
—Shakespeare
Never do anything of which you will have cause to be ashamed. There is one good opinion which is of the greatest importance to you, namely, your own. "An easy conscience", says Seneca, "is a continual feast".—Lubbock
Never do anything of which you will have cause to be ashamed. There is one good opinion which is of the greatest importance to you, namely, your own. "An easy conscience", says Seneca, "is a continual feast".—Lubbock
There is a tide in the affairs of men,Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;Omitted, all the voyage of their lifeIs bound in shallows and in miseries.On such a full sea are we now afloat;And we must take the current when it serves,Or lose our ventures.
—Shakespeare
Man is his own star, and the soul that canRender an honest and a perfect man,Commands all light, all influence, all fate,Nothing for him falls early or too late;Our acts our angels are, for good or ill;Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
—Beaumont and Fletcher
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;The soul that rises with us, our life's star,Hath had elsewhere its setting,And cometh from afar,Not in entire forgetfulness,And not in utter nakedness,But trailing clouds of glory do we comeFrom God who is our home.
—Wordsworth
Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer;Next day the fatal precedent will plead;Thus on, till-wisdom is pushed out of life.Procrastination is the thief of time;Year after year it steals, till all are fled,And to the mercies of a moment leavesThe vast concerns of an eternal scene.
—Edward Young
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,As the swift seasons roll!Leave thy low-vaulted past!Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,Till thou at length art free,Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea.
—O. W. Holmes
Grow old along with me!The best is yet to be,The last of life for which the first was made:Our times are in His handWho saith, "A whole I planned,Youth shows but half; trust God: see all nor be afraid!"
—Browning
Were a star quenched on high,For ages would its light,Still travelling downward from the sky,Shine on our mortal sight.So when a great man dies,For years beyond our ken,The light he leaves behind him liesUpon the paths of men.
—Longfellow
It is not growing like a treeIn bulk doth make man better be;Or standing long, an oak, three hundred year,To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear.A lily of a dayIs fairer far in May,Although it fall and die that night—It was the plant and flower of light.In small proportions we just beauties see;And in short measures life may perfect be.
—Ben Jonson
We shape ourselves the joy or fearOf which the coming life is made,And fill our Future's atmosphereWith sunshine or with shade.The tissue of the Life to be,We weave with colours all our own;And in the field of DestinyWe reap as we have sown.
—Whittier
Heaven is not reached at a single bound,But we build the ladder by which we riseFrom the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,And we mount to its summit round by round.I count this thing to be grandly true:That a noble deed is a step toward God,—Lifting the soul from the common clodTo a purer air and a broader view.
—J. G. Holland
Let me but do my work from day to dayIn field or forest, at the desk or loom,In roaring market-place or tranquil room;Let me but find it in my heart to say,When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,"This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;Of all who live, I am the only one by whomThe work can best be done in the right way."
—Henry Van Dyke
Good name, in man or woman, dear, my lord,Is the immediate jewel of their soul.Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;But he that filches from me my good name,Robs me of that which not enriches him,And makes me poor indeed.
—Shakespeare
God give us men! A time like this demandsStrong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands;Men whom the lust of office does not kill;Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;Men who possess opinions and a will;Men who have honour,—men who will not lie.
—J. G. Holland
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard,think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages with open heart; await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common,—this is my symphony.—Channing
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard,think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages with open heart; await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common,—this is my symphony.—Channing
O, may I join the choir invisibleOf those immortal dead who live againIn minds made better by their presence; liveIn pulses stirred to generosity,In deeds of daring rectitude, in scornOf miserable aims that end with self,In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,And with their mild persistence urge men's mindsTo vaster issues.
—George Eliot
A thing of beauty is a joy forever:Its loveliness increases; it will neverPass into nothingness; but still will keepA bower quiet for us, and a sleepFull of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.