James Russell Lowell

"New times demand new measures and new men; The world advances, and in time outgrows The laws which in our fathers times were best; And doubtless, after us, some purer scheme Will be shaped out by wiser men than we, Made wiser by the steady growth of truth."

"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."

"Not only around our infancy Doth heaven with all its splendors lie; Daily, with souls that cringe and plot, We Sinais climb and know it not."

"Earth’s noblest thing, — a woman perfected."

"She doeth little kindnesses Which most leave undone, or despise."

"The child is not mine as the first was, I cannot sing it to rest, I cannot lift it up fatherly And bliss it upon my breast; Yet it lies in my little ones cradle And sits in my little ones chair, And the light of the heaven shes gone to Transfigures its golden hair."

"We see dimly in the Present what is small and what is great, Slow of faith how weak an arm may turn this iron helm of fate, But the soul is still oracular; amid the markets din, List the ominous stern whisper from the Delphic cave within,— "They enslave their childrens children who make compromise with sin."

"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."

"Earth gets its price for what Earth gives us; The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in, The priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us, We bargain for the graves we lie in; At the Devils booth are all things sold Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold."

"Whatever be the effect of slavery upon the States where it exists, there can be no doubt that its moral influence upon the North has been most disastrous. It has compelled our politicians into that first fatal compromise with their moral instincts and hereditary principles which makes all consequent ones easy; it has accustomed us to makeshifts instead of statesmanship, to subterfuge instead of policy, to party-platforms for opinions, and to a defiance of the public sentiment of the civilized world for patriotism."

"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."

"Count me oer earths chosen heroes, — they were souls that stood alone, While the men they agonized for hurled the contumelious stone, Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam incline To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith divine, By one mans plain truth to manhood and to Gods supreme design."