John Greenleaf Whittier Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Famous Quotes By John Greenleaf Whittier
All day the darkness and the cold
Upon my heart have lain
Like shadows on the winter sky
Like frost upon the pane — John Greenleaf Whittier
What airs outblown from ferny dells And clover-bloom and sweet brier smells. — John Greenleaf Whittier
We shape ourselves the joy or fear
Of which the coming life is made,
And fill our Future's atmosphere
With sunshine or with shade. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been. — John Greenleaf Whittier
And still we love the evil cause
And of the just effect complain;
We tread upon life's broken laws
And murmur at our self-inflicted pain. — John Greenleaf Whittier
O brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother; Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there; To worship rightly is to love each other, Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer. — John Greenleaf Whittier
What does the good ship bear so well? The cocoa-nut with its stony shell, And the milky sap of its inner cell. — John Greenleaf Whittier
And the more you spend in blessing The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to you glad. — John Greenleaf Whittier
The great eventful Present hides the Past; but through the din Of its loud life hints and echoes from the life behind steal in. — John Greenleaf Whittier
With warning hand I mark Time's rapid flight,
From Life's glad morning to its solemn night;
Yet, through the dear Lord's love, I also show
There's light above me by the shade I throw. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Through the dark and stormy night Faith beholds a feeble light Up the blackness streaking; Knowing God's own time is best, In a patient hope I rest For the full day-breaking! — John Greenleaf Whittier
When earth as if on evil dreams Looks back upon her wars, And the white light of Christ outstreams From the red disc of Mars, His fame, who led the stormy van Of battle, well may cease; But never that which crowns the man Whose victory was peace. — John Greenleaf Whittier
With our sympathy for the wrongdoer we need the old Puritan and Quaker hatred of wrongdoing; with our just tolerance of men and opinions a righteous abhorrence of sin. — John Greenleaf Whittier
It is no use trying to sum people up. One must follow hints, not exactly what is said, nor yet entirely what is done. — John Greenleaf Whittier
From the death of the old the new proceeds, and the life of truth from the death of creeds. — John Greenleaf Whittier
God fills the gaps of human need, Each crisis brings its word and deed. — John Greenleaf Whittier
The low green tent Whose curtain never outward swings. — John Greenleaf Whittier
On leaf of palm, on sedge-wrought roll; on plastic clay and leather scroll, man wrote his thoughts; the ages passed, and lo! the Press was found at last! — John Greenleaf Whittier
What, my soul, was thy errand here?
Was it mirth or ease,
Or heaping up dust from year to year?
"Nay, none of these!"
Speak, soul, aright in His holy sight,
Whose eye looks still
And steadily on thee through the night;
"To do His will! — John Greenleaf Whittier
Beauty seen is never lost, God's colors all are fast. — John Greenleaf Whittier
There is religion in everything around us, - a calm and holy religion in the unbreathing things of Nature, which man would do well to imitate. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Who fathoms the Eternal Thought? Who talks of scheme and plan? The Lord is God! He needeth not The poor device of man. — John Greenleaf Whittier
When faith is lost, when honor dies, the man is dead. — John Greenleaf Whittier
One brave deed makes no hero. — John Greenleaf Whittier
What is really momentous and all-important with us is the present, by which the future is shaped and colored. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Drop Thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Nothing before, nothing behind; The steps of faith Fall on the seeming void, and find The Rock beneath. — John Greenleaf Whittier
They who wander widest lift No more of beauties' jealous veils, Than they who from their doorways see The miracle of flowers and trees. — John Greenleaf Whittier
His daily prayer, far better understood in acts than in words, was simply doing good. — John Greenleaf Whittier
And sweet and far as from a star, replied a voice which shall not cease, till drowning all the noise of war, it sings the blessed song of peace — John Greenleaf Whittier
A charmed life old goodness hath; the tares may perish, but the grain is not for death. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Flowers spring to blossom where she walks
The careful ways of duty;
Our hard, stiff lines of life with her
Are flowing curves of beauty.
— John Greenleaf Whittier
A little smile, a word of cheer, A bit of love from someone near, A little gift from one held dear, Best wishes for the coming year. These make a merry christmas! — John Greenleaf Whittier
Beneath the winter's snow lie germs of summer flowers. — John Greenleaf Whittier
The tints of autumn ... a mighty flower garden blossoming under the spell of the enchanter, frost. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Love hath never known a law beyond its own sweet will. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace; East, west, north, and south let the long quarrel cease; Sing the song of great joy that the angels began, Sing the glory to God and of good-will to man! — John Greenleaf Whittier
To be saved is only this-salvation from our own selfishness. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Oh, for boyhood's painless play, sleep that wakes in laughing day, health that mocks the doctor's rules, knowledge never learned of schools. — John Greenleaf Whittier
The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you — John Greenleaf Whittier
If thou of fortune be bereft, and in thy store there be but left two loaves, sell one, and with the dole, buy hyacinths to feed thy soul. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants at tree, is more than all. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Bathsheba! to whom none ever said scat- No worthier cat Ever sat on a mat, Or caught a rat. Requiescat! — John Greenleaf Whittier
God blesses still the generous thought,And still the fitting word He speeds,And Truth, at His requiring taught,He quickens into deeds. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Life's sunniest hours are not without
The shadow of some lingering doubt
Amid its brightest joys will steal
Spectres of evil yet to feel
Its warmest love is blent with fears,
Its confidence a trembling one
Its smile
the harbinger of tears
Its hope
the change of April's sun!
A weary lot
in mercy given,
To fit the chastened soul for heaven. — John Greenleaf Whittier
The saddest thing of word or pen, To know the things that might have been. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Quite the ugliest face I ever saw was that of a woman whom the world called beautiful. Through its silver veil the evil and ungentle passions looked out, hideous and hateful. On the other hand, there are faces which the multitude, at first glance, pronounce homely, unattractive and such as "Nature fashions by the gross," which I always recognize with a warm heart-thrill. Not for the world would I have one feature changed; they please me as they are; they are hallowed by kind memories, and are beautiful through their associations. — John Greenleaf Whittier
If woman lost us Eden, such As she alone restore it. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways! Re-clothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives thy service find, In deeper reverence praise — John Greenleaf Whittier
Truth is one;
And, in all lands beneath the sun,
Whoso hath eyes to see may see
The tokens of its unity. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Up from the sea, the wild north wind is blowing, under the sky's gray arch. Smiling, I watch the shaken elm boughs, knowing It is the wind of March. — John Greenleaf Whittier
God should be most where man is least: So, where is neither church nor priest, And never rag nor form of creed To clothe the nakedness of need,- Where farmer folk in silence meet,- I turn my bell-unsummoned feet; I lay the critic's glass aside, I tread upon my lettered pride, And, lowest-seated, testify To the oneness of humanity; Confess the universal want, And share whatever Heaven may grant. He findeth not who seeks his own, The soul is lost that's saved alone. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Before me, even as behind, God is, and all is well. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Freedom's soil hath only place For a free and fearless race! — John Greenleaf Whittier
The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Rap, rap! upon the well-worn stone, How falls the polished hammer! Rap, rap! the measured sound has grown A quick and merry clamor. Now shape the sole! now deftly curl The glassy vamp around it, And bless the while the bright-eyed girl Whose gentle fingers bound it! — John Greenleaf Whittier
At what point does a man turn into a monster? I don't believe that it's when he does horrible things, but when he accepts that he's able to do them, and that he does them well. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Here Greek and Roman find themselves alive along these crowded shelves; and Shakespeare treads again his stage, and Chaucer paints anew his age. — John Greenleaf Whittier
For still the new transcends the old In signs and tokens manifold; Slaves rise up men; the olive waves, With roots deep set in battle graves! — John Greenleaf Whittier
The still, sad music of humanity. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Yet, in the maddening maze of things, And tossed by storm and flood, To one fixed trust my spirit clings; I know that God is good! — John Greenleaf Whittier
God is good and God is light In this faith I rest secure, Evil can but serve the right, Over all shall love endure. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Beauty is its own excuse. — John Greenleaf Whittier
The sooner we recognize the fact that the mercy of the Almighty extends to every creature endowed with life, the better it will be for us as men and Christians. — John Greenleaf Whittier
God gives quietness at last. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Simple duty hath no place for fear. — John Greenleaf Whittier
A grateful loving heart carries with it, under every parallel of latitude, the warmth and light of the tropics. It plants its Eden in the wilderness and solitary place, and sows with flowers the gray desolation of rock and mosses. — John Greenleaf Whittier
God's ways seem dark, but, soon or late, They touch the shining hills of day; The evil cannot brook delay, The good can well afford to wait, Give ermined knaves their hour of crime; Yet have the future grand and great, The safe appeal of Truth to Time! — John Greenleaf Whittier
Around the mighty master came
The marvels which his pencil wrought,
Those miracles of power whose fame
Is wide as human thought. — John Greenleaf Whittier
The laws of changeless justice bind oppressor and oppressed; and, close as sin and suffering joined we march to fate abreast. — John Greenleaf Whittier
And I will trust that He who heeds
The life that hides in mead and wold,
Who hangs you alder's crimson beads,
And stains these mosses green and gold,
Will still, as He hath done, incline
His gracious care to me and mine. — John Greenleaf Whittier
It is well for us if we have learned to listen to the sweet persuasion of the Beatitudes, but there are crises in all lives which require also the emphatic "Thou shalt not" of the decalogue which the founders wrote on the gateposts of their commonwealth. — John Greenleaf Whittier
And one there was, a dreamer born,
Who, with a mission to fulfill,
Had left the Muses' haunts to turn
The crank of an opinion-mill,
Making his rustic reed of song
A weapon in the war with wrong, ...
A Tent on the Beach — John Greenleaf Whittier
God's providence is not blind, but full of eyes. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,
Through showers the sunbeams fall;
For God, who loveth all His works,
Has left His hope with all! — John Greenleaf Whittier
The hope of all earnest souls must be realized. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Press bravely onward! - not in vainYour generous trust in human kind;The good which bloodshed could not gainYour peaceful zeal shall find. — John Greenleaf Whittier
I hear the tread of pioneers
Of nations yet to be,
The first low wash of waves where soon
Shall roll a human sea. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Sweeter than any sungMy songs that found no tongue;Nobler than any factMy wish that failed of act.Others shall sing the song,Others shall right the wrong,-Finish what I begin,And all I fail of win. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard! Heap high the golden corn! No richer gift has Autumn poured From out her lavish horn! — John Greenleaf Whittier
The good is always beautiful, the beautiful is good! — John Greenleaf Whittier
Nature eschews regular lines; she does not shape her lines by a common model. Not one of Eve's numerous progeny in all respects resembles her who first culled the flowers of Eden. To the infinite variety and picturesque inequality of nature we owe the great charm of her uncloying beauty. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Better heresy of doctrine than heresy of heart. — John Greenleaf Whittier
In kindly showers and sunshine bud The branches of the dull gray wood; Out from its sunned and sheltered nooks The blue eye of the violet looks. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Again the blackbirds sings; the streams Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams, And tremble in the April showers The tassels of the maple flowers. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Once more the liberal year laughs out O'er richer stores than gems or gold: Once more with harvest song and shout Is nature's boldest triumph told. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Oh, talk as we may of beauty as a thing to be chiselled from marble or wrought out on canvas, speculate as we may upon its colors and outlines, what is it but an intellectual abstraction, after all? The heart feels a beauty of another kind; looking through the outward environment, it discovers a deeper and more real love-liness. — John Greenleaf Whittier
No longer forward or behind
I look in hope or fear,
But grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here. — John Greenleaf Whittier
Give lettered pomp to teeth of Time, So "Bonnie Doon" but tarry; Blot out the epic's stately rhyme, But spare his "Highland Mary!" — John Greenleaf Whittier
So all night long the storm roared on:
The morning broke without a sun;
In tiny spherule traced with lines
Of Nature's geometric signs,
In starry flake, and pellicle,
All day the hoary meteor fell;
And, when the second morning shone,
We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent
The blue walls of the firmament,
No cloud above, no earth below,
A universe of sky and snow! — John Greenleaf Whittier
I know not where his islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond his love and care. — John Greenleaf Whittier