By all means use sometimes to be alone.Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear.Dare to look in thy chest—for ’tis thine own,—And tumble up and down what thou findest there.Who cannot rest till he good fellows finde,He breaks up house, turns out of doors his minde.
By all means use sometimes to be alone.Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear.Dare to look in thy chest—for ’tis thine own,—And tumble up and down what thou findest there.Who cannot rest till he good fellows finde,He breaks up house, turns out of doors his minde.
By all means use sometimes to be alone.Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear.Dare to look in thy chest—for ’tis thine own,—And tumble up and down what thou findest there.Who cannot rest till he good fellows finde,He breaks up house, turns out of doors his minde.
By all means use sometimes to be alone.
Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear.
Dare to look in thy chest—for ’tis thine own,—
And tumble up and down what thou findest there.
Who cannot rest till he good fellows finde,
He breaks up house, turns out of doors his minde.
—George Herbert.
Personal happiness is almost synonymous with personal interests; the wider the range of the latter, the higher is the degree of happiness.
—Lilian Whiting.
Thoughts of courage, and hope, and highest expectation growing habitual, may lift out and up many a weary pilgrim.
—L. Purington.
“The ornaments of a home are the guests who frequent it.”
Do not waste a minute—not a second—in trying to demonstrate to others the merit of your own performance. If your work does not vindicate itself, you cannot vindicate it.
—Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
To go about moping, depressed, blue, out of spirits in general, is to exist, but not to live. It is the condition of a mollusk, and unworthy a human being. Worry is a state of spiritual corrosion. A trouble either can be remedied, or it cannot. If it can be, then set about it; if it cannot be, dismiss it from your consciousness, or bear it so bravely that it may become transfigured to a blessing.
—Lilian Whiting.
“It is easy enough to be pleasantWhen life flows by like a song,But the man worth while is the man who will smileWhen everything goes dead wrong;For the test of the heart is trouble,And it always comes with years,And the smile that comes with the praises of earthIs the smile that shines through tears.”
“It is easy enough to be pleasantWhen life flows by like a song,But the man worth while is the man who will smileWhen everything goes dead wrong;For the test of the heart is trouble,And it always comes with years,And the smile that comes with the praises of earthIs the smile that shines through tears.”
“It is easy enough to be pleasantWhen life flows by like a song,But the man worth while is the man who will smileWhen everything goes dead wrong;For the test of the heart is trouble,And it always comes with years,And the smile that comes with the praises of earthIs the smile that shines through tears.”
“It is easy enough to be pleasant
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is the man who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong;
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with years,
And the smile that comes with the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through tears.”
I think we should treat our minds as innocent children whose guardian we are—be careful what objects and what subjects we thrust on their attention.
—Henry D. Thoreau.
Gather roses while they blossom; to-morrow is not to-day! Allow no moment to escape; to-morrow is not to-day.
—Gleim.
Cheapness of nature can be redeemed only from one source—that of the invisible power on the divine side of life. By seeking this in silence and concentration for a little time each day all refinement and loveliness and charm can be achieved. It is the magic of life.
—The World Beautiful, Lilian Whiting.
I have wished to teach a single lesson, true alike to all men—the lesson of the saving of time.
—David Starr Jordan.
There are so many things—best things—that can only come when youth is past, that it may well happen to many of us to find ourselves happier and happier to the last.
—George Eliot.
This world is no blot for usNor blank; it means intensely, and means good.
This world is no blot for usNor blank; it means intensely, and means good.
This world is no blot for usNor blank; it means intensely, and means good.
This world is no blot for us
Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good.
—Browning.
Poetry frequents and keeps habitable those upper chambers of the mind that open toward the sun’s rising.
—James Russell Lowell.
The individual who cultivates grievances, and who is perpetually exacting explanations of his assumed wrongs, can only be ignored, and left to the education of time and of development.... One does not argue or contend with the foul miasma that settles over stagnant water; one leaves it and climbs to a higher region, where the air is pure and the sunshine fair.
—Lilian Whiting.
“Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world.”
Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which thou now usest for present things.
—Marcus Aurelius.
We hear much said of “environment.” We need to realize that environment should never be allowed to make the man, but that man should always, and always can, condition the environment. When we realize this, we will find that many times it is not necessary to take ourselves out of any particular environment, because we may yet have a work to do there; but by the very force we carry with us, we can so affect and change matters that we will have an entirely new set of conditions in an old environment.
—Ralph Waldo Trine.
FABLE.
The mountain and the squirrelHad a quarrel,And the former called the latter “Little Prig”;Bun replied,“You are doubtless very big;But all sorts of things and weatherMust be taken in together,To make up a yearAnd a sphere.And I think it no disgraceTo occupy my place.If I’m not so large as you,You are not so small as I,And not half so spry.I’ll not deny you makeA very pretty squirrel track;Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;If I cannot carry forests on my back,Neither can you crack a nut.”
The mountain and the squirrelHad a quarrel,And the former called the latter “Little Prig”;Bun replied,“You are doubtless very big;But all sorts of things and weatherMust be taken in together,To make up a yearAnd a sphere.And I think it no disgraceTo occupy my place.If I’m not so large as you,You are not so small as I,And not half so spry.I’ll not deny you makeA very pretty squirrel track;Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;If I cannot carry forests on my back,Neither can you crack a nut.”
The mountain and the squirrelHad a quarrel,And the former called the latter “Little Prig”;Bun replied,“You are doubtless very big;But all sorts of things and weatherMust be taken in together,To make up a yearAnd a sphere.And I think it no disgraceTo occupy my place.If I’m not so large as you,You are not so small as I,And not half so spry.I’ll not deny you makeA very pretty squirrel track;Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;If I cannot carry forests on my back,Neither can you crack a nut.”
The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter “Little Prig”;
Bun replied,
“You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I’m not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
I’ll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track;
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.”
—Emerson.
O the paralyzing effect of fear of evil! It surely doth make “cowards of us all.” It makes us pygmies where we might be giants, were we only free from it.
—H. Emilie Cady.
As you grow old, guard against the tendency to live more coarsely, to relax in your discipline. Obey your finest instincts. Be fastidious to the extreme of sanity.
—Thoreau.
“Then let us smile when skies are gray,And laugh at stormy weather,And sing life’s lonesome times away:So worry and the dreariest dayWill find an end together.”
“Then let us smile when skies are gray,And laugh at stormy weather,And sing life’s lonesome times away:So worry and the dreariest dayWill find an end together.”
“Then let us smile when skies are gray,And laugh at stormy weather,And sing life’s lonesome times away:So worry and the dreariest dayWill find an end together.”
“Then let us smile when skies are gray,
And laugh at stormy weather,
And sing life’s lonesome times away:
So worry and the dreariest day
Will find an end together.”
Character is not only written in the face, expressed in conduct and language, but is sent forth as a thought atmosphere.
—Dresser.
Others shallTake patience, courage, to their heart and handFrom thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer,And God’s grace fructify through thee to all.
Others shallTake patience, courage, to their heart and handFrom thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer,And God’s grace fructify through thee to all.
Others shallTake patience, courage, to their heart and handFrom thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer,And God’s grace fructify through thee to all.
Others shall
Take patience, courage, to their heart and hand
From thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer,
And God’s grace fructify through thee to all.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
To love one soul for its beauty and grace and truth is to open the way to appreciate all beautiful and true and gracious souls, and to recognize spiritual beauty wherever it is seen.
—H. Black.
We must alter for the better always and unceasingly. Nature seems to be at rest only because she is perpetually renewed. The soul enjoys repose on the same terms.
—De Ravignon.
God gives us power to bear all the sorrows of His making: but He does not give the power to bear the sorrows of our own making, which the anticipation of sorrow most assuredly is.
—Ian MacLaren.
Ever laughs the sunlight in our eyes at morning and at noon,Comes the pure, cool wind, to whisper past our cheek its cheery tune,Just to tell us Earth is beautiful, and at the quiet evenEvery star looks down lest we forget that earth is crowned with Heaven.
Ever laughs the sunlight in our eyes at morning and at noon,Comes the pure, cool wind, to whisper past our cheek its cheery tune,Just to tell us Earth is beautiful, and at the quiet evenEvery star looks down lest we forget that earth is crowned with Heaven.
Ever laughs the sunlight in our eyes at morning and at noon,Comes the pure, cool wind, to whisper past our cheek its cheery tune,Just to tell us Earth is beautiful, and at the quiet evenEvery star looks down lest we forget that earth is crowned with Heaven.
Ever laughs the sunlight in our eyes at morning and at noon,
Comes the pure, cool wind, to whisper past our cheek its cheery tune,
Just to tell us Earth is beautiful, and at the quiet even
Every star looks down lest we forget that earth is crowned with Heaven.
—E. R. Sill.
“The whole world unites in pushing us the way we have really made up our mind to go.”
Without distinction, without calculation, without procrastination, love. Lavish it upon the poor, where it is very easy; especially upon the rich, who often need it most; most of all upon our equals, where it is very difficult, and for whom perhaps we each do least of all.
—Henry Drummond.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!What you can do, or think you can, begin it!
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!What you can do, or think you can, begin it!
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!What you can do, or think you can, begin it!
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!
What you can do, or think you can, begin it!
—Goethe.
’Tis better to live rich than to die rich.
—Dr. Johnson.
It seems to me there is no maxim for a noble life like this: Count always your highest moments your truest moments. Believe that in the time when you were the greatest and most spiritual man, then you were your truest self.
—Phillips Brooks.
Fine society is the graceful, genial, sympathetic intercourse of fine souls.
—Lilian Whiting.
The stream of content must flow from ourselves, taking its source from a deliberate disposition to learn what is good, and a determined resolution to seek for and enjoy it, however small the portion may be.
—Zimmermann.
When you have a number of disagreeable duties to perform, always do the most disagreeable first.
—Josiah Quincy.
God says, live deeply, earnestly in the present, and the spirit of all the ages shall come and reveal itself to you.
—Phillips Brooks.
To try too hard to make people good is one way to make them worse. The only way to make them good, is to be good, remembering well the beam and the mote.
—George Macdonald.
“Ask God to give thee skillFor comfort’s art,That thou may’st consecrated be,And set apartUnto a life of sympathy!For comforters are needed muchOf Christ-like touch.”
“Ask God to give thee skillFor comfort’s art,That thou may’st consecrated be,And set apartUnto a life of sympathy!For comforters are needed muchOf Christ-like touch.”
“Ask God to give thee skillFor comfort’s art,That thou may’st consecrated be,And set apartUnto a life of sympathy!For comforters are needed muchOf Christ-like touch.”
“Ask God to give thee skill
For comfort’s art,
That thou may’st consecrated be,
And set apart
Unto a life of sympathy!
For comforters are needed much
Of Christ-like touch.”
For he that wrongs his friendWrongs himself more, and ever bears aboutA silent court of justice in his breast,Himself the judge and jury, and himselfThe prisoner at the bar, ever condemned.
For he that wrongs his friendWrongs himself more, and ever bears aboutA silent court of justice in his breast,Himself the judge and jury, and himselfThe prisoner at the bar, ever condemned.
For he that wrongs his friendWrongs himself more, and ever bears aboutA silent court of justice in his breast,Himself the judge and jury, and himselfThe prisoner at the bar, ever condemned.
For he that wrongs his friend
Wrongs himself more, and ever bears about
A silent court of justice in his breast,
Himself the judge and jury, and himself
The prisoner at the bar, ever condemned.
—Tennyson.
The sense of humor is the oil of life’s engine. Without it, the machinery creaks and groans. No lot is so hard, no aspect of things is so grim, but it relaxes before a hearty laugh.
—G. S. Merriam.
The happiest heart that ever beatWas in some quiet breast,That found the common daylight sweetAnd left to Heaven the rest.
The happiest heart that ever beatWas in some quiet breast,That found the common daylight sweetAnd left to Heaven the rest.
The happiest heart that ever beatWas in some quiet breast,That found the common daylight sweetAnd left to Heaven the rest.
The happiest heart that ever beat
Was in some quiet breast,
That found the common daylight sweet
And left to Heaven the rest.
—John Vance Cheney.
“Of all work,” said the Bishop of Exeter, “that produces results, nine-tenths must be drudgery. There is no work, from the highest to the lowest, which can be done well by any man who is unwilling to make that sacrifice.”
It is a hard thing to close up a discourse and to cut it short, when you are once in, and have a great deal more to say. There is nothing wherein the strength and breeding of a horse is so much seen as in a round, graceful, and sudden stop.
—Montaigne.
Greatly begin! though thou have timeBut for a line, be that sublime—Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
Greatly begin! though thou have timeBut for a line, be that sublime—Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
Greatly begin! though thou have timeBut for a line, be that sublime—Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
Greatly begin! though thou have time
But for a line, be that sublime—
Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
—James Russell Lowell.
Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes; work never begun.
—Christina Rossetti.
When we feel a strong desire to thrust our advice on others, it is usually because we suspect their weakness; but we ought rather to suspect our own.
—Colton.
Sorrow is the mere rust of the soul. Activity will cleanse and brighten it.
—Dr. Johnson.
Efforts to be permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous—a spirit all sunshine—graceful from very gladness, beautiful because bright.
—Carlyle.
Read the philosophers, and learn how to make life happy; seeking useful precepts and brave and noble words which may become deeds.
—Seneca.
“I pray the prayer of Pluto old;God make thee beautiful within,And let thine eye the good beholdIn everything save sin.”
“I pray the prayer of Pluto old;God make thee beautiful within,And let thine eye the good beholdIn everything save sin.”
“I pray the prayer of Pluto old;God make thee beautiful within,And let thine eye the good beholdIn everything save sin.”
“I pray the prayer of Pluto old;
God make thee beautiful within,
And let thine eye the good behold
In everything save sin.”
Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.
—St. Francis de Sales.
Oh! square thyself for use; a stone that mayFit in the wall is left not in the way.
Oh! square thyself for use; a stone that mayFit in the wall is left not in the way.
Oh! square thyself for use; a stone that mayFit in the wall is left not in the way.
Oh! square thyself for use; a stone that may
Fit in the wall is left not in the way.
—R. C. French.
The best piece of good fortune which can come to one is opportunity for intimacy with a leader, in whatever line of life he may be engaged.
—Edward Everett Hale.
God has delivered yourself to your care, and says: “I had no fitter to trust than you.”
—Epictetus.
I gazed on the throng of hurrying faces,Some in tatters and some in laces,And I said to myself, “How will it be,When the soul of each is at last set free?”For she who is plainest and most forlorn,May, by her beauty, God’s heaven adorn;While she who is fairest of form and face,May, near God’s beautiful, look out of place.So I said, “How, my soul, will it be with thee?”
I gazed on the throng of hurrying faces,Some in tatters and some in laces,And I said to myself, “How will it be,When the soul of each is at last set free?”For she who is plainest and most forlorn,May, by her beauty, God’s heaven adorn;While she who is fairest of form and face,May, near God’s beautiful, look out of place.So I said, “How, my soul, will it be with thee?”
I gazed on the throng of hurrying faces,Some in tatters and some in laces,And I said to myself, “How will it be,When the soul of each is at last set free?”
I gazed on the throng of hurrying faces,
Some in tatters and some in laces,
And I said to myself, “How will it be,
When the soul of each is at last set free?”
For she who is plainest and most forlorn,May, by her beauty, God’s heaven adorn;While she who is fairest of form and face,May, near God’s beautiful, look out of place.
For she who is plainest and most forlorn,
May, by her beauty, God’s heaven adorn;
While she who is fairest of form and face,
May, near God’s beautiful, look out of place.
So I said, “How, my soul, will it be with thee?”
So I said, “How, my soul, will it be with thee?”
—Laura Barker.
Half the world is on the wrong scent in the pursuit of happiness. They think it consists in having and getting, and in being served by others. It consists in giving and in serving others.
—Henry Drummond.
What we like determines what we are, and is the sign of what we are; and to teach taste is inevitably to form character.
—Ruskin.
One feast of holy days the crestI, though no Churchman, love to keep;All-Saints—the unknown good that restIn God’s still memory folded deep.
One feast of holy days the crestI, though no Churchman, love to keep;All-Saints—the unknown good that restIn God’s still memory folded deep.
One feast of holy days the crestI, though no Churchman, love to keep;All-Saints—the unknown good that restIn God’s still memory folded deep.
One feast of holy days the crest
I, though no Churchman, love to keep;
All-Saints—the unknown good that rest
In God’s still memory folded deep.
—Lowell.
Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.
—Horace Mann.
Of nothing may we be more sure than this, that if we cannot sanctify our present lot, we could sanctify no other. Our heaven and our Almighty Father are there or nowhere.
—Dr. James Martineau.
“Whether in large or small affairs, there must be perpetual adjustment. Neither men nor women, more than our finely strung musical instruments, can escape the need of constant tuning.”
As nothing reveals character like the company we like and keep, so nothing foretells futurity like the thoughts over which we brood.
—Newell Dwight Hillis.
Simply do the best you know, then trust. He who seeks to live by the Spirit and who cares above all for that, will not be without guidance.
—Horatio W. Dresser.
Though to-day may not fulfillAll thy hopes, have patience still;For perchance to-morrow’s sunSees thy happier day begun.
Though to-day may not fulfillAll thy hopes, have patience still;For perchance to-morrow’s sunSees thy happier day begun.
Though to-day may not fulfillAll thy hopes, have patience still;For perchance to-morrow’s sunSees thy happier day begun.
Though to-day may not fulfill
All thy hopes, have patience still;
For perchance to-morrow’s sun
Sees thy happier day begun.
—P. Gerhardt.
There are beautiful things far out in the years:Can we not bear bravely some burdens and fears?
There are beautiful things far out in the years:Can we not bear bravely some burdens and fears?
There are beautiful things far out in the years:Can we not bear bravely some burdens and fears?
There are beautiful things far out in the years:
Can we not bear bravely some burdens and fears?
—From Dream Land Sent, Lilian Whiting.
The yearsHave taught some sweet, some bitter lessons, noneWiser than this, to spend in all things else,But of old friends to be most miserly.
The yearsHave taught some sweet, some bitter lessons, noneWiser than this, to spend in all things else,But of old friends to be most miserly.
The yearsHave taught some sweet, some bitter lessons, noneWiser than this, to spend in all things else,But of old friends to be most miserly.
The years
Have taught some sweet, some bitter lessons, none
Wiser than this, to spend in all things else,
But of old friends to be most miserly.
—Lowell.
“It is better to endure all the frowns and anger of the greatest on earth, than to have an uneasy conscience within our breast. O, let the bird in the soul be always kept singing whatsoever one may suffer.”
The men and women that are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticise.
—Elizabeth Harrison.
I ought not to pronounce judgment on a fellow creature until I know all that enters into his life; until I can measure all the forces of temptation and resistance; until I can give full weight to all the facts in the case. In other words, I am never in a position to judge another.
—Hamilton W. Mabie.
What I am thinking and doing day by day is resistlessly shaping my future—a future in which there is no expiation except through my own better conduct. No one can save me. No one can live my life for me. If I am wise I shall begin to-day to build my own truer and better world from within.
—H. W. Dresser.
I am an enemy to long explanation; they deceive either the maker or the hearer, generally both.
—Goethe.
He who is false to present duty, breaks a thread in the loom, and will find a flaw, when he may have forgotten the cause.
—Henry Ward Beecher.
“When the outlook is not good, try the uplook.”
Every advance we make toward the realization of the truth of the permanence and immanence of law, brings us nearer to Him, who is the First Cause of all law and all phenomena.
—David Starr Jordan.
When in the mid-day march we meetThe outstretched shadows of the night,The promise, how divinely sweet,“At eventide, it shall be light.”
When in the mid-day march we meetThe outstretched shadows of the night,The promise, how divinely sweet,“At eventide, it shall be light.”
When in the mid-day march we meetThe outstretched shadows of the night,The promise, how divinely sweet,“At eventide, it shall be light.”
When in the mid-day march we meet
The outstretched shadows of the night,
The promise, how divinely sweet,
“At eventide, it shall be light.”
—Alice Cary.
You are never to complain of your birth, your training, your employments, your hardships; never to fancy that you could be something if only you had a different lot and sphere assigned you. God understands his own plan, and He knows what you want a great deal better than you do yourself.
—H. Bushnell.
Soar on and up, it’s God projecting as it goes,Expanding into love and joy and peace—but not repose.
Soar on and up, it’s God projecting as it goes,Expanding into love and joy and peace—but not repose.
Soar on and up, it’s God projecting as it goes,Expanding into love and joy and peace—but not repose.
Soar on and up, it’s God projecting as it goes,
Expanding into love and joy and peace—but not repose.
—W. W. Story.
“If you would have a happy family life, remember two things: in matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.”
Learn not only by a comet’s rush, but by a rose’s blush.
—Browning.
When the Kingdom is once found, life ceases to be a plodding, and becomes an exaltation, an ecstasy, a joy.
—R. W. Trine.
Immortality will come to such as are fit for it; and he who would be a great soul in the future must be a great soul now.
—Emerson.
There is no kind of bondage which life lays upon us that may not yield both sweetness and strength; and nothing reveals a man’s character more fully than the spirit in which he bears his limitations.
—Hamilton W. Mabie.
The vision of things to be done may come a long time before the way of doing them appears clear. But woe to him who distrusts the vision.
—Jenkin Lloyd Jones.
“Every day is a fresh beginning,Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain;And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,Take heart with the day and begin again.”
“Every day is a fresh beginning,Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain;And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,Take heart with the day and begin again.”
“Every day is a fresh beginning,Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain;And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,Take heart with the day and begin again.”
“Every day is a fresh beginning,
Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain;
And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
Take heart with the day and begin again.”
In order to manage children well, we must borrow their eyes and their hearts, see and feel as they do, and judge them from their own point of view.
I pray God to make parents reasonable.
—Eugenie de Guerin.
The finest culture comes from the study of men in their best moods.
—Plutarch.
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations; I cannot reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
—Louisa May Alcott.
No power in society, no hardship in your condition can depress you, keep you down, in knowledge, power, virtue, influence, but by your own consent.
—Channing.
Contentment comes neither by culture nor by wishing; it is reconciliation with our lot, growing out of an inward superiority to our surroundings.
—Rev. J. K. McLean.
At times it is only necessary to rest one’s self in silence for a few minutes, in order to take off the pressure and become wonderfully refreshed.
—Dresser.
Touchiness, when it becomes chronic, is a morbid condition of the inward disposition.
It is self-love inflamed to the acute point.
—Drummond.
It is not written, blessed is he that feedeth the poor, but he that considereth the poor. A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
—Ruskin.
For life, with all its yields of joy and woeAnd hope and fear,—believe the aged friend,—Is just our chance o’ the prize of learning love;How love might be, hath been indeed, and is;And that we hold henceforth to the uttermostSuch prize despite the envy of the world,And having gained truth, keep truth, that is all.
For life, with all its yields of joy and woeAnd hope and fear,—believe the aged friend,—Is just our chance o’ the prize of learning love;How love might be, hath been indeed, and is;And that we hold henceforth to the uttermostSuch prize despite the envy of the world,And having gained truth, keep truth, that is all.
For life, with all its yields of joy and woeAnd hope and fear,—believe the aged friend,—Is just our chance o’ the prize of learning love;How love might be, hath been indeed, and is;And that we hold henceforth to the uttermostSuch prize despite the envy of the world,And having gained truth, keep truth, that is all.
For life, with all its yields of joy and woe
And hope and fear,—believe the aged friend,—
Is just our chance o’ the prize of learning love;
How love might be, hath been indeed, and is;
And that we hold henceforth to the uttermost
Such prize despite the envy of the world,
And having gained truth, keep truth, that is all.
—Robert Browning.
Oh, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come in you by the grace of God.
—Phillips Brooks.
What does your anxiety do? It does not empty to-morrow, brother, of its sorrow; but ah! it empties to-day of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes.
—Ian MacLaren.
If you wish to be miserable, think about yourself, about what you want, what you like, what respect people ought to pay you; and then to you nothing will be pure. You will spoil everything you touch, you will make misery for yourself out of everything which God sends you: you will be as wretched as you choose.
—Charles Kingsley.
But on God’s dial-plate of time,’Tis never late to him who standsSelf-centred in a trust sublime,With mastered force and thinking hands.
But on God’s dial-plate of time,’Tis never late to him who standsSelf-centred in a trust sublime,With mastered force and thinking hands.
But on God’s dial-plate of time,’Tis never late to him who standsSelf-centred in a trust sublime,With mastered force and thinking hands.
But on God’s dial-plate of time,
’Tis never late to him who stands
Self-centred in a trust sublime,
With mastered force and thinking hands.
—Minot J. Savage.
“Look for the light that the shadow proves.”
Oh, the little birds sang East,and the little birds sang West,And I smiled to think God’sgreatness flowed around our incompleteness,Round our restlessness, His rest.
Oh, the little birds sang East,and the little birds sang West,And I smiled to think God’sgreatness flowed around our incompleteness,Round our restlessness, His rest.
Oh, the little birds sang East,and the little birds sang West,And I smiled to think God’sgreatness flowed around our incompleteness,Round our restlessness, His rest.
Oh, the little birds sang East,
and the little birds sang West,
And I smiled to think God’s
greatness flowed around our incompleteness,
Round our restlessness, His rest.
—E. B. Browning.
Be thrifty, but not covetous: therefore giveThy need, thine honor, and thy friend his due.Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;Then live, and use it: else it is not trueThat thou hast gotten. Surely use aloneMakes money not a contemptible stone.
Be thrifty, but not covetous: therefore giveThy need, thine honor, and thy friend his due.Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;Then live, and use it: else it is not trueThat thou hast gotten. Surely use aloneMakes money not a contemptible stone.
Be thrifty, but not covetous: therefore giveThy need, thine honor, and thy friend his due.Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;Then live, and use it: else it is not trueThat thou hast gotten. Surely use aloneMakes money not a contemptible stone.
Be thrifty, but not covetous: therefore give
Thy need, thine honor, and thy friend his due.
Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;
Then live, and use it: else it is not true
That thou hast gotten. Surely use alone
Makes money not a contemptible stone.
—George Herbert.
“I do not deem that it matters notHow you live your life below;It matters much to the heedless crowdThat you see go to and fro;For all that is noble and high and goodHas an influence on the rest,And the world is better for everyoneWho is living at his best.”
“I do not deem that it matters notHow you live your life below;It matters much to the heedless crowdThat you see go to and fro;For all that is noble and high and goodHas an influence on the rest,And the world is better for everyoneWho is living at his best.”
“I do not deem that it matters notHow you live your life below;It matters much to the heedless crowdThat you see go to and fro;For all that is noble and high and goodHas an influence on the rest,And the world is better for everyoneWho is living at his best.”
“I do not deem that it matters not
How you live your life below;
It matters much to the heedless crowd
That you see go to and fro;
For all that is noble and high and good
Has an influence on the rest,
And the world is better for everyone
Who is living at his best.”
Let us beware of losing our enthusiasm. Let us ever glory in something, and strive to attain our admiration for all that would ennoble, and our interest in all that would enrich and beautify our life.
—Phillips Brooks.
A high purpose is magnetic and attracts rich resources.
—Lilian Whiting.
Be firm: one certain element in luckIs genuine, solid old Teutonic pluck.
Be firm: one certain element in luckIs genuine, solid old Teutonic pluck.
Be firm: one certain element in luckIs genuine, solid old Teutonic pluck.
Be firm: one certain element in luck
Is genuine, solid old Teutonic pluck.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
—George Augustus Sala.
It is astonishing what a lot of odd minutes one can catch during the day, if one really sets about it.
—Dinah Maria Mulock.
So I will trudge with heart elate,And feet with courage shod,For that which men call chance and fateIs the handiwork of God.
So I will trudge with heart elate,And feet with courage shod,For that which men call chance and fateIs the handiwork of God.
So I will trudge with heart elate,And feet with courage shod,For that which men call chance and fateIs the handiwork of God.
So I will trudge with heart elate,
And feet with courage shod,
For that which men call chance and fate
Is the handiwork of God.
—Alice Cary.
“This world is a difficult world indeed,And people are hard to suit,And the man who plays on the violinIs a bore to the man with a flute.”
“This world is a difficult world indeed,And people are hard to suit,And the man who plays on the violinIs a bore to the man with a flute.”
“This world is a difficult world indeed,And people are hard to suit,And the man who plays on the violinIs a bore to the man with a flute.”
“This world is a difficult world indeed,
And people are hard to suit,
And the man who plays on the violin
Is a bore to the man with a flute.”
No man can be provident of his time who is not prudent in the choice of his company.
—Jeremy Taylor.
Every great man is always being helped by everybody; for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.
—Ruskin.
Belief in compensation, or that nothing is got for nothing, characterizes all valuable minds.
—Emerson.
Never shrink from anything which your business calls you to do. The man who is above his business may one day find his business above him.
—Drew.
The common problem, yours, mine, every one’s,Is not to fancy what were fair in life,Provided it could be—but finding firstWhat may be, then find how to make it fairUp to our means.
The common problem, yours, mine, every one’s,Is not to fancy what were fair in life,Provided it could be—but finding firstWhat may be, then find how to make it fairUp to our means.
The common problem, yours, mine, every one’s,Is not to fancy what were fair in life,Provided it could be—but finding firstWhat may be, then find how to make it fairUp to our means.
The common problem, yours, mine, every one’s,
Is not to fancy what were fair in life,
Provided it could be—but finding first
What may be, then find how to make it fair
Up to our means.
—Browning.
Every life that has God in it has the index to character and the key to the highest attainment.
—L. Purington.
Be resolutely and faithfully what you are; be humbly what you aspire to be. Man’s noblest gift to man is his sincerity, for it embraces his integrity also.
—Henry D. Thoreau.
We often do more good by our sympathy than by our labors.
—Canon Farrar.
Dost thou love life? Then waste not time; for time is the stuff that life is made of.
—Benjamin Franklin.
The best way of training the young, is to train yourself at the same time; not to admonish them, but to be seen always doing that of which you would admonish them.
—Plato.
It is a good and safe rule to sojourn in every place, as if you meant to spend your life there, never omitting an opportunity of doing a kindness, or speaking a true word, or making a friend.
—Ruskin.
Landor’s definition of a great man: He who can call together the most select company when it pleases him.
We go apart to get still; that new life, new inspiration, new power of thought, new supplies from the Fountainhead, may flow in.
—H. Emilie Cady.
Perhaps it is a good thing to have an unsound hobby ridden hard; for it is sooner ridden to death.
—Charles Dickens.
“Take a dash of water coldAnd a little leaven of prayer,A little bit of sunshine goldDissolved in the morning air;Add to your meal some merrimentAnd a thought for kith and kin;And then, as a prime ingredientA plenty of work thrown in:But spice it all with the essence of loveAnd a little whiff of play:Let a wise old book and a glance aboveComplete a well spent day.”
“Take a dash of water coldAnd a little leaven of prayer,A little bit of sunshine goldDissolved in the morning air;Add to your meal some merrimentAnd a thought for kith and kin;And then, as a prime ingredientA plenty of work thrown in:But spice it all with the essence of loveAnd a little whiff of play:Let a wise old book and a glance aboveComplete a well spent day.”
“Take a dash of water coldAnd a little leaven of prayer,A little bit of sunshine goldDissolved in the morning air;Add to your meal some merrimentAnd a thought for kith and kin;And then, as a prime ingredientA plenty of work thrown in:But spice it all with the essence of loveAnd a little whiff of play:Let a wise old book and a glance aboveComplete a well spent day.”
“Take a dash of water cold
And a little leaven of prayer,
A little bit of sunshine gold
Dissolved in the morning air;
Add to your meal some merriment
And a thought for kith and kin;
And then, as a prime ingredient
A plenty of work thrown in:
But spice it all with the essence of love
And a little whiff of play:
Let a wise old book and a glance above
Complete a well spent day.”
Judge not thy friend until thou standest in his place.
—Rabbi Hillel.
“He who is always inquiring what people will say, will never give them opportunity to say anything great about him.”
Borrowing is the canker and the death of every man’s estate.
—Sir Walter Raleigh.
It is not so much what you say to the children that charges the atmosphere of your home, as it is the spirit of your life, the temper you exhibit, the ends which you live for.
—Dr. J. K. McLean.
Punishment closely follows sin, it being born at the same time with it. Whoever expects punishment, already suffers it; whoever has deserved it, expects it.
—Montaigne.
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, that of an “Honest Man.”
—George Washington.
Trust in God, as Moses did, let the way be never so dark; and it shall come to pass that your life at last shall surpass even your longing. Not, it may be, in the line of that longing; that shall be as it pleaseth God; but the glory is as sure as the grace, and the most ancient heavens are not more sure than that.
—Robert Collyer.
Men suffer all their life long under the foolish superstition that they can be cheated. But it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself, as for a thing to be and not to be at the same time. There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfilment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss. If you serve an ungrateful master, serve him the more. Put God in your debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer.
—Emerson.
I believe if we could only see beforehand what it is that our Heavenly Father means us to be, the soul beauty and perfection and glory, the glorious and lovely spiritual body that this soul is to dwell in through all eternity, if we could have a glimpse of this, we should not grudge all the trouble and pains he is taking with us now to bring us up to that ideal which is his thought of us.
—Annie Keary.
Let thy every word and act be perfect truth, uttered in genuine love. Let not the forms of business, or the conventional arrangements of society reduce thee into falsehood. Be true to thyself. Be true to thy friend. Be true to the world.
—Lydia Maria Child.
Infidelity to self is infidelity to God.
—Charles B. Newcomb.
Learn to handle and control the ignorant part of your being as you would watch and guide a child. Hold thought and expression to your highest ideal. Learn from your failure.
—God’s Light as It Came to Me.
Self reliance is the basis of behavior, as it is the guaranty that the powers are not squandered in too much demonstration.
—Emerson.