ThursdayFeb 05, 2026
Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969
The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect.
Every heart that has beat strongly and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind.
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others.
Every man has a sane spot somewhere.
Wine is bottled poetry.
There is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbors good. One person I have to make good: Myself. But my duty to my neighbor is much more nearly expressed by saying that I have to make him happy if I may.
Nothing like a little judicious levity.
You think those dogs will not be in heaven! I tell you they will be there long before any of us.
Gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality: they are the perfect duties. If your morals make you dreary, depend on it they are wrong. I do not say, 'give them up,' for they may be all you have; but conceal them like a vice, lest they should spoil the lives of better men
A friend is a gift you give yourself.
Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.
Trusty, dusky, vivid, true, With eyes of gold and bramble-dew, Steel-true and blade-straight, The great artificer made my mate.
That a man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.
Let first the onion flourish there, Rose among the roots, the maiden-fair Wine scented and poetic soul of the capacious salad bowl.
It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves.
You cannot run away from a weakness, you must sometime fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand.
Talk is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing in money, it is all profit, it completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health.
Every one lives by selling something.
Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock in a thunderstorm.
A Morning Prayer The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to play the man; help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our business all this day. Bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonored and grant us in the end the gift of sleep.
It is not likely that posterity will fall in love with us, but not impossible that it may respect or sympathize; so a man would rather leave behind him the portrait of his spirit than a portrait of his face.
These are my politics: to change what we can; to better what we can; but still to bear in mind that man is but a devil weakly fettered by some generous beliefs and impositions; and for no word however sounding, and no cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture on these bonds.
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The world is so full of a number of things; I am sure we should all be as happy as kings.
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.
The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.
He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task, who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauties, nor failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life is an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.
To be honest, to be kind To earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy.
There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves all of us not to talk about the rest of us.
So long as we love, we serve; so long as we are loved by others I would say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.
Christmas at Sea The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand; The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand, The wind was a nor'-wester, blowing squally off the sea; And the cliffs and spouting breakers were the only thing a-
Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until, nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all that life really means.
An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding.
Even if the doctor does not give you a year, even if he hesitates about a month, make one brave push and see what can be accomplished in a week.
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.
Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but principally by catchwords.
Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese - toasted, mostly.
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you.
Am I no a bonny fighter?
I've a grand memory for forgetting, David'.
All I seek, the heaven above And the road below me.
When I am grown to man's estate I shall be very proud and great. And tell the other girls and boys Not to meddle with my toys.
The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Pieces of eight!
Even if we take matrimony at its lowest, even if we regard it as no more than a sort of friendship recognized by the police.
A generous prayer is never presented in vain; the petition may be refused, but the petitioner is always, I believe, rewarded by some gracious visitation.
And my heart springs up anew, Bright and confident and true, And the old loves comes to meet me in the dawning and the dew.
It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect.
Marriage is one long conversation, checkered by disputes.
Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.
The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
The Saints are the Sinners who keep on trying.
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.
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