James Russell Lowell

Two meanings have our lightest fantasies, One of the flesh, and of the spirit one.

The real doth not clip the poet's wings,— To win the secret of a weed’s plain heart Reveals some clue to spiritual things, And stumbling guess becomes firm-footed art.

Great truths are portions of the soul of man; Great souls are portions of eternity.

No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. There is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil.

New times demand new measures and new men; The world advances, and in time outgrows The laws which in our father's times were best; And doubtless, after us, some purer scheme Will be shaped out by wiser men than we, Made wiser by the …

It may be glorious to write Thoughts that shall glad the two or three High souls, like those far stars that come in sight Once in a century.

All thoughts that mould the age begin Deep down within the primitive soul.

His words were simple words enough, And yet he used them so, That what in other mouths was rough In his seemed musical and low.

They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think;

Is true Freedom but to break Fetters for our own dear sake, And, with leathern hearts, forget That we owe mankind a debt? No! true freedom is to share All the chains our brothers wear, And, with heart and hand, to be

If there breathe on earth a slave, Are ye truly free and brave? If ye do not feel the chain, When it works a brother's pain, Are ye not base slaves indeed, Slaves unworthy to be freed?

That love for one, from which there doth not spring Wide love for all, is but a worthless thing.

Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.

Earth’s noblest thing, — a woman perfected.

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.

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.

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.

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 one's cradle And sits in my little one's chair,

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 …

The clear, sweet singer with the crown of snow Not whiter than the thoughts that housed below.

Blessed are they who have nothing to say, and who cannot be persuaded to say it.

The capacity of indignation makes an essential part of the outfit of every honest man.

When I was a beggarly boy, And lived in a cellar damp, I had not a friend nor a toy, But I had Aladdin's lamp.

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.