Human nature has a much greater genius for sameness than for originality. James Russell Lowell More Quotes by James Russell Lowell More Quotes From James Russell Lowell Attention is the stuff that memory is made of, and memory is accumulated genius. James Russell Lowell geniusattentionmemories Behind the dim unknown, Standeth God with the shadow, keeping watch above his own. James Russell Lowell breaking-silenceshadowwatches A father of the church said that property was theft, many centuries before Proudhon was born. Bourdaloue reaffirmed it. Montesquieu was the inventor of national workshops and of the theory that the state owed every man a living. Nay, was not the church herself the first organized democracy? James Russell Lowell churchmenfather The sentimentalist does not think of what he does so much as of what the world will think of what he does. James Russell Lowell doeworldthinking Stern men with empires in their brains. James Russell Lowell mindbrainmen May is a pious fraud of the almanac A ghastly parody of real Spring Shaped out of snow and breathed with eastern wind. James Russell Lowell realspringwind 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; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three. James Russell Lowell hatredtwothinking Analysis is carried into everything. Even Deity is subjected to chemical tests. James Russell Lowell deitiesanalysistests A marciful Providunce fashioned us holler O' purpose thet we might our principles swaller. James Russell Lowell purposeprinciplesmight Let us be thankful that there is no court by which we can be excluded from our share in the inheritance of the great poets of all ages and countries, to which our simple humanity entitles us. James Russell Lowell being-thankfulsimplecountry Stories now, to suit a public taste, must be half epigram, half pleasant vice. James Russell Lowell viceshalfstories It is quite too common a practice, both in readers and the more superficial class of critics, to judge a book by what it is not, a matter much easier to determine than what it is. James Russell Lowell practiceclassbook A sneer is the weapon of the weak. Like other devil's weapons, it is always cunningly ready to our hand, and there is more poison in the handle than in the point. James Russell Lowell devilpoisonhands Winds wanders, and dews drip earthward; Rains fall, suns rise and set; Earth whirls, and all but to prosper A poor little violet. James Russell Lowell rainwindfall Ye come and go incessant; we remain Safe in the hallowed quiets of the past; Be reverent, ye who flit and are forgot, Of faith so nobly realized as this. James Russell Lowell incessantsafepast An angel stood and met my gaze, Through the low doorway of my tent; The tent is struck, the vision stays; I only know she came and went. James Russell Lowell visionangeldoorways How little inventiveness there is in man, Grave copier of copies. James Russell Lowell inventionlittlesmen The English Puritans pulled down church and state to rebuild Zion on the ruins, and all the while it was not Zion, but America, they were building. James Russell Lowell zionchurchamerica The pine is the mother of legends. James Russell Lowell legendsmother Pride of origin, whether high or low, springs from the same principle in human nature; one is but the positive, the other the negative, pole of a single weakness. James Russell Lowell weaknesspridespring
