Martin Farquhar Tupper Quotes & Sayings

It is sure to be dark if you shut your eyes. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Well timed silence has more eloquence than speech. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

To despond is to lie ungrateful beforehand. Be not looking for evil. Often thou drainest the gall of fear while evil is passing by thy dwelling. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Thought paceth like a hoary sage, but imagination hath wings as an eagle. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

There is not unmitigated ill in the sharpest of this world's sorrows; I touch not the sore of thy guilt; but of human griefs I counsel thee, Cast off the weakness of regret, and gird thee to redeem thy loss: Thou has gained, in the furnace of affliction, self-knowledge, patience and humility, And these be as precious ore, that waiteth the skill of the coiner: Despise not the blessings of adversity, nor the gain thou hast earned so hardly, And now thou hast drained the bitter, take heed that thou lose not the sweet. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Memory is not wisdom ; idiots can rote volumes :
Yet, what is wisdom without memory ? a babe that is strangled in its birth ;
The path of the swallow in the air ; the path of the dolphin in the waters ;
A cask running out ; a bottomless chasm : such is wisdom without memory.
There be many wise, who cannot store their knowledge ;
Yet from themselves are they satisfied, for the fountain is within : — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Search out the wisdom of nature, there is depth in all her doings; she seemeth prodigal of power, yet her rules are the maxims of frugality. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Faith may rise into miracles of might, as some few wise men have shown; faith may sink into credulities of weakness, as the mass of fools have witnessed. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Anger is a noble infirmity; the generous failing of the just; the one degree that riseth above zeal, asserting the prerogative of virtue. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Error is a hardy plant; it flourishes in every soil. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

The mines of knowledge are often laid bare by the hazel-wand of chance. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Yet is beauty the pleasing trickery that cheateth half the world. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

To be accurate, write; to remember, write; to know thine own mind, write.
And a written prayer is a prayer of faith, special, sure, and to be answered. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Hope and be happy that all's for the best! — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Never give up! If adversity presses, Providence wisely has mingled the cup, And the best counsel, in all your distresses, Is the stout watchword of "Never give up." — Martin Farquhar Tupper

To-morrow is that lamp upon the marsh, which a traveller never reacheth;
To-morrow, the rainbow's cup, coveted prize of ignorance;
To-morrow, the shifting anchorage, dangerous trust of manners;
To-morrow, the wrecker's beacon, wily snare of the destroyer.
Reconcile conviction with delay, and To-morrow is a fatal lie;
Frighten resolutions into action, To-morrow is a wholesome truth. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Rashly, nor ofttimes truly, doth man pass judgment on his brother; for he seeth not the springs of the heart, nor heareth the reasons of the mind. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Betray mean terror of ridicule, thou shalt find fools enough to mock thee; but answer thou their language with contempt, and the scoffers will lick thy feet. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Extravagance is the rich man's pitfall. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

One single glance will conquer all descriptions. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Pain adds rest unto pleasure, and teaches the luxury of health. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

A letter, timely writ, is a rivet to the chain of affection;
And a letter, untimely delayed, is as rust to the solder. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Mind is a kingdom to the man who gathereth his pleasure from ideas. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Take the good with the evil, for ye all are pensioners of God, and none may choose or refuse the cup His wisdom mixeth. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

It is the cringer to his equal that is chiefly seen bold to his God. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

If thou wilt think evil of thy neighbour, soon shalt thou have him for thy foe. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Blunted unto goodness is the heart which anger never stirreth, but that which hatred swelleth, is keen to carve out evil. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Trifles lighter than straws are levers in the building up of character. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Age hath its quiet calm, and youth enjoyeth not for haste. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Humility mainly becometh the converse of man with his Maker. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

A wise man heedeth all things, and in his own eyes is a fool. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Hate furroweth the brow; and a man may frown till he hateth. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

He who does not tire, tires adversity. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Every green herb, from the lotus to the darnel, is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Our cares are all To-day, our joys are all To-day;
And in one little word, our life, what is it but
To-day? — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Praise a fool, and slay him; for the canvas of his vanity is spread; His bark is shallow in the water, and a sudden gust shall sink it: Praise a wise man, and speed him on his way; for he carrieth the ballast of humility, And is glad when his course is cheered by the sympathy of brethren ashore. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

As thou directest the power, harm or advantage will follow, and the torrent that swept the valley may be led to turn a mill. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Ridicule is a weak weapon when pointed at a strong mind; but common people are cowards and dread an empty laugh. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Labour is good for a man, bracing up his energies to conquest, And without it life is dull, the man perceiving himself useless. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Many a beggar at the crossway, or gray-haired shepherd on the plain, hath more of the end of all wealth than hundreds who multiply the means. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Deceit and treachery skulk with hatred, but an honest spirit flieth with anger. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Confidence is conqueror of men; victorious both over them and in them; The iron will of one stout heart shall make a thousand quail; A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn the tide of battle, And rally to a nobler strife the giants that had fled. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

A man looketh on his little one as a being of better hope; in himself ambition is dead, but it bath a resurrection in his son. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Hatred is the atmosphere of hell. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

True wisdom, laboring to expound, heareth others readily;
False wisdom, sturdy to deny, closeth up her mind to argument. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

He who commits a wrong will himself inevitably see the writing on the wall, though the world may not count him guilty. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Man liveth from hour to hour, and knoweth not what may happen; Influences circle him on all sides, and yet must he answer for his actions: For the being that is master of himself, bendeth events to his will, But a slave to selfish passions is the wavering creature of circumstance. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Invention is activity of mind, as fire is air in motion; a sharpening of the spiritual sight, to discern hidden aptitudes. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Love looketh from the eye, and kindleth love by looking. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Who can wrestle against Sleep? - Yet is that giant very gentleness. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Who shall guess what I may be?Who can tell my fortune to me?For, bravest and brightest that ever was sungMay be - and shall be - the lot of the young! — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Love, a brilliant fire, to gladden or consume. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Nature is the chart of God, mapping out all His attributes. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Law hath dominion over all things, over universal mind and matter; For there are reciprocities of rights, which no creature can gainsay. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

If wealth come, beware of him, the smooth, false friend! There is treachery in his proffered hand; his tongue is eloquent to tempt; lust of many harms is lurking in his eye; he hath a hollow heart; use him cautiously. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Better is the wrong with sincerity, rather than the right with falsehood. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Love
what a volume in a word, an ocean in a tear, A seventh heaven in a glance, a whirlwind in a sigh, The lightning in a touch, a millennium in a moment, What concentrated joy or woe in blest or blighted love! For it is that native poetry springing up indigenous to Mind, The heart's own-country music thrilling all its chords, The story without an end that angels throng to hear, The word, the king of words, carved on Jehovah's heart! — Martin Farquhar Tupper

I have sped by land and sea, and mingled with much people, but never yet could find a spot unsunned by human kindness. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

A good book is the best of friends, the same today and for ever. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

It is well to lie fallow for a while. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Happiness is a roadside flower growing on the highways of usefulness; plucked, it shall wither in thy hand; passed by, it is fragrance to thy spirit. Trample the thyme beneath thy feet; be useful, be happy. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Contend not in wisdom with a fool, for thy sense maketh much of his conceit; And some errors never would have thriven, had it not been for learned refutation. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

In the morning of life, before its wearisome journey, The youthful soul doth expand, in the simple luxury of being; It hath not contracted its wishes, nor set a limit on its hopes; The wing of fancy is unclipped, and sin hath not seared the feelings: Each feature is stamped with immortality, for all its desires are infinite, And it seeketh an ocean of happiness, to fill the deep hollow within. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Men scanning the surface count the wicked happy; they see not the frightful dreams that crowd a bad man's pillow. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

The wise man knoweth where to stop, as he runneth in the race of fortune, For experience of old hath taught him, that happiness lingered midway; And many in hot pursuit have hasted to the goal of wealth, But have lost, as they ran, those apples of gold
the mind and the power to enjoy it. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Alike to the slave and his oppressor cometh night with sweet refreshment, and half of the life of the most wretched is gladdened by the soothings of sleep. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

He that is ambitious for his son, should give him untried names,
For those have serv'd other men, haply may injure by their evils;
Or otherwise may hinder by their glories; therefore set him by himself,
To win for his individual name some clear praise. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

God, from a beautiful necessity, is Love. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Speech is the golden harvest that followeth the flowering of thought. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Life is as the current spark on the miner's wheel of flints; While it spinneth, there is light; stop it, all is darkness. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

When thou choosest a wife, think not only of thyself, but of those God may give thee of her, that they reproach thee not for their being. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Thou hast seen many sorrows, travel-stained pilgrim of the world, But that which hath vexed thee most, hath been the looking for evil; And though calamities have crossed thee, and misery been heaped on thy head, Yet ills that never happened, have chiefly made thee wretched. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Speech is reason's brother, and a kingly prerogative of man. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Travel is a ceaseless fount of surface education,
But its wisdom will be simply superficial, if thou add not thoughts to things. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Let the misanthrope shun men and abjure; the most are rather lovable than hateful. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Reason refuseth its homage to a God who can be fully understood. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Look too on this poor planet of ours,
Torn by the storms of mysterious powers,
Evil contending with good from its birth,
Wrenching in battle the heartstrings of earth,
Ah! what infinities circle us here,
Strangeness and wonderment swathing the sphere! — Martin Farquhar Tupper

If the mind is wearied by study, or the body worn with sickness,It is well to lie fallow for a while, in the vacancy of sheer amusement ;But when thou prosprest in health, and thine intellect can soar untired,To seek uninstructive pleasure is to slumber on the couch of indolence. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

In a dream thou mayst live a lifetime, and all be forgotten in the morning: Even such is life, and so soon perisheth its memory. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

The sun of the mind, and the life of the heart is Wisdom. She is pure and full of light, crowning grey hairs with lustre, And kindling the eye of youth with a fire not its own. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Memory is not wisdom; idiots can by rote repeat volumes. Yet what is wisdom without memory? — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Love is the weapon which Omnipotence reserved to conquer rebel man when all the rest had failed. Reason he parries; fear he answers blow for blow; future interest he meets with present pleasure; but love, that sun against whose melting beams the winter cannot stand
that soft subliming slumber which wrestles down the giant, there is not one human being in a million, nor a thousand men in all earth's huge quintillion, whose clay heart is hardened against love. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Clamorous pauperism feastest
While honest Labor, pining, hideth his sharp ribs. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Deep is the sea, and deep is hell, but pride mineth deeper; it is coiled as a poisonous worm about the foundations of the soul. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Spurn not a seeming error, but dig below its surface for the truth. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

A man too careful of danger liveth in continual torment, But a cheerful expecter of the best hath a fountain of joy within him. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

As frost to the bud, and blight to the blossom, even such is self-interest to friendship; for confidence cannot dwell where selfishness is porter at the gate. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

If thou art master to thyself, circumstances shall harm thee little. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Power is seldom innocent, and envy is the yokefellow of eminence. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Wealth oft-times killeth, where want but hindered the budding. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Not few nor light are the burdens of life; then load it not with heaviness of spirit. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

Knowledge is leagued with the universe, and findeth a friend in all things; but ignorance is everywhere a stranger, unwelcome; ill at ease and out of place. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

O Death, what are thou? nurse of dreamless slumbers freshening the fevered flesh to a wakefulness eternal. — Martin Farquhar Tupper

None is poor but the mean in mind, the timorous, the weak, and unbelieving; none is wealthy but the affluent in soul, who is satisfied and floweth over. — Martin Farquhar Tupper