That genius is feeble which cannot hold its own before the masterpieces of the world. Thomas Wentworth Higginson More Quotes by Thomas Wentworth Higginson More Quotes From Thomas Wentworth Higginson The test of an author is not to be found merely in the number of his phrases that pass current in the corner of newspapers... but in the number of passages that have really taken root in younger minds. Thomas Wentworth Higginson takenrootswriting Life is as inexorable as the sea. Thomas Wentworth Higginson life-isseawater Only yonder magnificent pine-tree... holds her unchanging beauty throughout the year, like her half-brother, the ocean, whose voice she shares; and only marks the flowing of her annual tide of life by the new verdure that yearly submerges all trace of last year's ebb. Thomas Wentworth Higginson oceanbrotheryears As the spring comes on, and the densening outlines of the elm give daily a new design for a Grecian urn, — its hue, first brown with blossoms, then emerald with leaves, — we appreciate the vanishing beauty of the bare boughs. In our favored temperate zone, the trees denude themselves each year, like the goddesses before Paris, that we may see which unadorned loveliness is the fairest. Thomas Wentworth Higginson parisspringyears In an audience of rough people a generous sentiment always brings down the house. In the tumult of war both sides applaud a heroic deed. Thomas Wentworth Higginson heroic-deedsappreciationwar After all, when a thought takes one's breath away, a lesson on grammar seems an impertinence. As Ruskin wrote in his earlier and better days, "No weight nor mass nor beauty of execution can outweigh one grain or fragment of thought. Thomas Wentworth Higginson executionlessonsweight After all, when a thought takes one's breath away, a lesson on grammar seems an impertinence. Thomas Wentworth Higginson grammarlessonshumor An easy thing, O Power Divine, To thank thee for these gifts of Thine, For summer's sunshine, winter's snow, For hearts that kindle thoughts that glow. Thomas Wentworth Higginson sunshinesummerheart 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 trackrunningdeath Character shows itself apart from genius as a special thing. The first point of measurement of any man is that of quality. Thomas Wentworth Higginson specialcharactermen Genius is lonely without the surrounding presence of a people to inspire it. Thomas Wentworth Higginson lonelyinspirepeople In ancient Boeotia brides were carried home in vehicles whose wheels were burned at the door, in token, that they would never again be needed. Thomas Wentworth Higginson wheelshomedoors The coarsest father gains a new impulse to labor from the moment of his baby's birth; he scarcely sees it when awake, and yet it is with him all the time. Every stroke he strikes is for his child. New social aims, new moral motives, come vaguely up to him. Thomas Wentworth Higginson babyfatherchildren Lavish thousands of dollars on your baby clothes, and after all the child is prettiest when every garment is laid aside. That becoming nakedness, at least, may adorn the chubby darling of the poorest home. Thomas Wentworth Higginson naturebabychildren How much that the world calls selfishness is only generosity with narrow walls,--a too exclusive solicitude to maintain a wife in luxury, or make one's children rich. Thomas Wentworth Higginson luxurywallchildren Travelers find virtue in a seeming minority in all other countries, and forget that they have left it in a minority at home. Thomas Wentworth Higginson homecountrytravel What are Raphael's Madonnas but the shadow of a mother's love, fixed in permanent outline forever? Thomas Wentworth Higginson mommotherson When a thought takes one's breath away, a grammar lesson seems an impertinence. Thomas Wentworth Higginson lessonbreaththoughtintelligence There is no defense against adverse fortune which is so effectual as an habitual sense of humor. Thomas Wentworth Higginson againstsense-of-humorhumorfortune
