Many persons sigh for death when it seems far off, but the inclination vanishes when the boat upsets, or the locomotive runs off the track, or the measles set it. Thomas Wentworth Higginson More Quotes by Thomas Wentworth Higginson More Quotes From Thomas Wentworth Higginson The first wild-flower of the year is like land after sea. Thomas Wentworth Higginson flowerseayears How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year! Thomas Wentworth Higginson lessonswinteryears Do not waste a minute - not a second - in trying to demonstrate to others the merits of your performance. If your work does not vindicate itself, you cannot vindicate it. Thomas Wentworth Higginson wasteworktrying To be really cosmopolitan a man must be at home even in his own country. Thomas Wentworth Higginson country-lovehomecountry Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges. Thomas Wentworth Higginson hikinghumormen It is no discredit to Walt Whitman that he wrote Leaves of Grass, only that he did not burn it afterwards. Thomas Wentworth Higginson leaves-of-grasswaltgrass All... religions show the same disparity between belief and practice, and each is safe till it tries to exclude the rest. Test each sect by its best or its worst as you will, by its high-water mark of virtue or its low-water mark of vice. But falsehood begins when you measure the ebb of any other religion against the flood-tide of your own. There is a noble and a base side to every history. Thomas Wentworth Higginson religiouspracticewater But days even earlier than these, in April, have a charm, — even days that seem raw and rainy, when the sky is dull and a bequest of March - wind lingers, chasing the squirrel from the tree and the children from the meadows. There is a fascination in walking through these bare early woods, – there is such a pause of preparation, winter's work is so cleanly and thoroughly done. Everything is taken down and put away. Thomas Wentworth Higginson takensummerspring Noble discontent is the path to heaven. Thomas Wentworth Higginson nobleinspirationalheaven In our methodical American life, we still recognize some magic in summer. Most persons at least resign themselves to being decently happy in June. They accept June. They compliment its weather. They complain of the earlier months as cold, and so spend them in the city; and they complain of the later months as hot, and so refrigerate themselves on some barren sea-coast. God offers us yearly a necklace of twelve pearls; most men choose the fairest, label it June, and cast the rest away. Thomas Wentworth Higginson summerweathermen There are no days in the whole round year more delicious than those which often come to us in the latter half of April... The sun trembles in his own soft rays... The grass in the meadow seems all to have grown green since yesterday. Thomas Wentworth Higginson flowerspringyears The Englishman's strong point is his vigorous insularity; that of the American his power of adaptation. Each of these attitudes has its perils. The Englishman stands firmly on his feet, but he who merely does this never advances. The American's disposition is to step forward even at the risk of a fall. Thomas Wentworth Higginson strongattitudefall If I were to choose among all gifts and qualities that which, on the whole, makes life pleasantest, I should select the love of children. No circumstance can render this world wholly a solitude to one who has this possession Thomas Wentworth Higginson qualitysolitudechildren Nothing can hide from me the conviction that an immortal soul needs for its sustenance something more than visiting, and gardening, and novel-reading, and crochet-needle, and the occasional manufacture of sponge cake. Thomas Wentworth Higginson cakereadingsoul Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes. Thomas Wentworth Higginson pairscreatingeye What instruction the baby brings to the mother! Thomas Wentworth Higginson instructionmotherbaby That genius is feeble which cannot hold its own before the masterpieces of the world. Thomas Wentworth Higginson masterpiecegeniusworld Fields are won by those who believe in the winning. Thomas Wentworth Higginson fieldswinningbelieve The most fertile soil does not necessarily produce the most abundant harvest. It is the use we make of our faculties which renders them valuable. Thomas Wentworth Higginson intelligenceusedoe There is certainly no defence or water -proof garment against adverse fortune which is, on the whole, so effectual as an habitual sense of humor. Thomas Wentworth Higginson laughterhumortwilight
