Most men make the voyage of life as if they carried sealed orders which they were not to open till they were fairly in mid-ocean. James Russell Lowell More Quotes by James Russell Lowell More Quotes From James Russell Lowell Things always seem fairer when we look back at them, and it is out of that inaccessible tower of the past that Longing leans and beckons. James Russell Lowell towers looks past Sorrow is the great idealizer. James Russell Lowell great-idea sorrow grief The gift without the giver is rare. James Russell Lowell generosity thank-you giving Some day the soft Ideal that we wooed confronts us fiercely, foe-beset, pursued, and cries reproachful: Was it then my praise, and not myself was loved? Prove now thy truth; I claim of thee the promise of thy youth. James Russell Lowell youth love promise Those who know the truth are not equal to those who love it Confucius All truth is safe and nothing else is safe, but he who keeps back truth, or withholds it from men, from motives of expediency, is either a coward or a criminal. James Russell Lowell truth love men Take winter as you find him, and he turns out to be a thoroughly honest fellow; with no nonsense in him, which is a great comfort in the long-run. James Russell Lowell winter running long Be NOBLE! and the nobleness that liesIn other men, sleeping, but never dead,Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. James Russell Lowell sleep men lying To me it seems not unreasonable to find a re-enforcement of optimism, a renewal of courage and hope, in the modern theory that man has mounted to what he is from the lowest step of potentiality, through toilsome grades of ever-expanding existence, even thought it have been by a spiral stairway, mainly dark or dusty, with loop-holes at long intervals only, and these granting but a narrow and one-sided view. James Russell Lowell views dark men And the poorest twig on the elm-tree was ridged inch deep with pearl. James Russell Lowell pearls tree snow They are slaves who fear to speak, for the fallen and the weak. James Russell Lowell speak fear character There is no self-delusion more fatal than that which makes the conscience dreamy with the anodyne of lofty sentiments, while the life is groveling and sensual James Russell Lowell sensual self life-is Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. James Russell Lowell democracies-have freedom men 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. James Russell Lowell color faith weather There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates. James Russell Lowell pirate ocean sea Where one person shapes their life by precept and example, there are a thousand who have shaped it by impulse and circumstances. James Russell Lowell discipline example literature Who's not sat tense before his own heart's curtain. James Russell Lowell tense anxiety heart An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run. James Russell Lowell running long people Incredulity robs us of many pleasures, and gives us nothing in return. James Russell Lowell return literature giving It is the privilege of genius that life never grows common place, as it does for the rest of us. James Russell Lowell genius literature doe Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit. James Russell Lowell success happiness character
