Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quotes
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“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Illustrated)”, p.1873, Delphi Classics
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“It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1888). “Longfellow's Days: The Longfellow Prose Birthday Book : Extracts from the Journals and Letters of H. W. Longfellow”
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“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast, And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“To be seventy years old is like climbing the Alps. You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles and miles away, and before you other summits higher and whiter, which you may have strength to climb, or may not. Then you sit down and meditate and wonder which it will be.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“All things must change To something new, to something strange.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticized.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1849). “Kavanagh: A Tale”, p.3
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“As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Talk not of wasted affection - affection never was wasted.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“For his heart was in his work, and the heart giveth grace unto every art.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The dawn is not distant, nor is the night starless; love is eternal.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Perseverance is a great element of success.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Love gives itself; it is not bought.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“He that respects himself is safe from others. He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Youth comes but once in a lifetime.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“If the mind, that rules the body, ever so far forgets itself as to trample on its slave, the slave is never generous enough to forgive the injury, but will rise and smite the oppressor.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“For age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though in another dress, And as the evening twilight fades away The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1872). “Outre Mer. Driftwood”
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“Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The atmosphere breathes rest and comfort, and the many chambers seem full of welcomes.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Look, then, into thine heart, and write!”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The highest exercise of imagination is not to devise what has no existence, but rather to perceive what really exists, though unseen by the outward eye-not creation, but insight.”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1888). “Longfellow's Days: The Longfellow Prose Birthday Book : Extracts from the Journals and Letters of H. W. Longfellow”
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“As I gaze upon the sea! All the old romantic legends, all my dreams, come back to me.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Yes, we must ever be friends; and of all who offer you friendship Let me be ever the first, the truest, the nearest and dearest.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words, and Kind deeds.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“There is nothing holier in this life of ours than the first consciousness of love, the first fluttering of its silken wings.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Ne speaketh not; and yet there lies a conversation in his eyes.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“For bells are the voice of the church; They have tones that touch and search The hearts of young and old.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Softly the evening came /with the sunset/.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Difficulty on the way to victory is opportunity for God to work”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“I do not believe anyone can be perfectly well, who has a brain and a heart”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“The soul...is audible, not visible.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow Descends the snow.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Ah, Nothing is too late, till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“The leaves of memory seemed to make A mournful rustling in the dark”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Your silent tents of green We deck with fragrant flowers; Yours has the suffering been, The memory shall be ours.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Glorious indeed is the world of God around us, but more glorious the world of God within us.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Art is the child of nature in whom we trace the features of the mothers face.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1865). “Household Poems”, p.20
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“Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon Like a magician extended his golden want o'er the landscape; Trinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Joy, temperance, and repose, slam the door on the doctor's nose.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : "A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz". "Democracy Now!" with Amy Goodman, www.democracynow.org. November 25, 2004.
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“The heart, like the mind, has a memory. And in it are kept the most precious keepsakes.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Our hearts are lamps for ever burning...”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Trust no future, however pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead! Act -- act in the living Present! Heart within and God overhead.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“How beautiful is youth! how bright it gleams with its illusions, aspirations, dreams! Book of Beginnings, Story without End, Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend!”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Nor deem the irrevocable Past As wholly wasted, wholly vain, If, rising on its wrecks, at last To something nobler we attain.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Ah, how skillful grows the hand That obeyeth Love's command! It is the heart, and not the brain, That to the highest doth attain, And he who followeth Love's behest Far excelleth all the rest!”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“That was the first sound in the song of love! Scarce more than silence is, and yet a sound. Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings Of that mysterious instrument, the soul, And play the prelude of our fate. We hear The voice prophetic, and are not alone.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Nature is a revelation of God; Art a revelation of man.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The day is done, and the darkness Falls from the wings of Night, As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“A feeling of sadness and longing, That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“As a fond mother, when the day is o'er, Leads by the hand her little child to bed, Half willing, half reluctant to be led, And leave his broken playthings on the floor. Still gazing at them through the open door, Nor wholly reassured and comforted By promises of others in their stead Which, the more splendid, may not please him more; So Nature deals with us, and takes away Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest so gently, that we go Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay, Being too full of sleep to understand How far the unknown transcends the what we know.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Sometimes we may learn more from a man's errors, than from his virtues.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“If spring came but once a century instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all the hearts to behold the miraculous change.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Every man must patiently bide his time. He must wait -- not in listless idleness but in constant, steady, cheerful endeavors, always willing and fulfilling and accomplishing his task, that when the occasion comes he may be equal to the occasion.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“After a day of cloud and wind and rain Sometimes the setting sun breaks out again, And touching all the darksome woods with light, Smiles on the fields until they laugh and sing, Then like a ruby from the horizon's ring, Drops down into the night.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“I love an author the more for having been himself a lover of books.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Age is opportunity no less than youth itself.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“When one is truly in love, one not only says it, but shows it.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The holiest of holidays are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart; The secret anniversaries of the heart.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“It has done me good to be somewhat parched by the heat and drenched by the rain of life.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Taste the joy That springs from labor.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Sculpture is more than painting. It is greater To raise the dead to life than to create Phantoms that seem to live.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“He looks the whole world in the face for he owes not any man.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Ah, how good it feels! The hand of an old friend.”
-- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSource : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1872). “The poetical works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Author's complete ed”, p.638
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“Oh, how beautiful is the summer night, which is not night, but a sunless, yet unclouded, day, descending upon earth with dews and shadows and refreshing coolness! How beautiful the long mild twilight, which, like a silver clasp, unites today with yesterday!”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“The greatest grace of a gift, perhaps, is that it anticipates and admits of no return.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Noble souls, through dust and heat, rise from disaster and defeat the stronger.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“Many readers judge of the power of a book by the shock it gives their feelings - as some savage tribes determine the power of muskets by their recoil; that being considered best which fairly prostrates the purchaser.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“However things may seem, no evil thing is success and no good thing is failure.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The nearer the dawn the darker the night.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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“This is the place. Stand still, my steed,- Let me review the scene, And summon from the shadowy past The forms that once have been.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“It is true, that it is not at all necessary to love many books, in order to love them much.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do, well.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
“The mind of the scholar, if he would leave it large and liberal, should come in contact with other minds.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
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