Quote#Wisdom
Their children learned the lesson of compromise only too well, and it…
Quote byJames Russell Lowell · 1819–1891
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: On Democracy (6 October 1884).
English (original)
Their children learned the lesson of compromise only too well, and it was the application of it to a question of fundamental morals that cost us our civil war. We learned once for all that compromise makes a good umbrella but a poor roof; that it is a temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship.
— James Russell Lowell
More from James Russell Lowell
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.
They came three thousand miles, and died, To keep the Past upon its throne; Unheard, beyond the ocean tide, Their English mother made her moan.
There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates.
It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature’s text; And embryo Good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the Evil in its nature.
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.