James Russell Lowell

"Strach má velké oči."

"They came three thousand miles, and died, To keep the Past upon its throne; Unheard, beyond the ocean tide, Their English mother made her moan."

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light."

"It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested."

"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."

"When I was a beggarly boy, And lived in a cellar damp, I had not a friend nor a toy, But I had Aladdin's lamp."

"She doeth little kindnesses Which most leave undone, or despise."

"Blessed are they who have nothing to say, and who cannot be persuaded to say it."

"The clear, sweet singer with the crown of snow Not whiter than the thoughts that housed below."

"But life is sweet, though all that makes it sweet Lessen like sound of friends’ departing feet; And Death is beautiful as feet of friend Coming with welcome at our journey’s end. For me Fate gave, whate’er she else denied, A nature sloping to the southern side; I thank her for it, though when clouds arise Such natures double-darken gloomy skies."

"The child is not mine as the first was, I cannot sing it to rest, I cannot lift it up fatherly And bliss it upon my breast; Yet it lies in my little one's cradle And sits in my little one's chair, And the light of the heaven she's gone to Transfigures its golden hair."

"The soil out of which such men as he are made is good to be born on, good to live on, good to die for and to be buried in."

"In vain we call old notions fudge, And bend our conscience to our dealing; The Ten Commandments will not budge, And stealing will continue stealing."

"If I were asked what book is better than a cheap book, I should answer that there is one book better than a cheap book, — and that is a book honestly come by."

"The capacity of indignation makes an essential part of the outfit of every honest man."

"Earth’s noblest thing, — a woman perfected."

"Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own."

"That love for one, from which there doth not spring Wide love for all, is but a worthless thing."

"If there breathe on earth a slave, Are ye truly free and brave? If ye do not feel the chain, When it works a brother's pain, Are ye not base slaves indeed, Slaves unworthy to be freed?"

"Is true Freedom but to break Fetters for our own dear sake, And, with leathern hearts, forget That we owe mankind a debt? No! true freedom is to share All the chains our brothers wear, And, with heart and hand, to be Earnest to make others free!"

"They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three."

"His words were simple words enough, And yet he used them so, That what in other mouths was rough In his seemed musical and low."

"All thoughts that mould the age begin Deep down within the primitive soul."

"It may be glorious to write Thoughts that shall glad the two or three High souls, like those far stars that come in sight Once in a century."

"New times demand new measures and new men; The world advances, and in time outgrows The laws which in our father's times were best; And doubtless, after us, some purer scheme Will be shaped out by wiser men than we, Made wiser by the steady growth of truth."

"No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. There is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil."

"Great truths are portions of the soul of man; Great souls are portions of eternity."

"The real doth not clip the poet's wings,— To win the secret of a weed’s plain heart Reveals some clue to spiritual things, And stumbling guess becomes firm-footed art."

"Two meanings have our lightest fantasies, One of the flesh, and of the spirit one."

"Who speaks the truth stabs Falsehood to the heart."

"There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates."

"Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou shalt stand, Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against our land? Though the cause of Evil prosper, yet ’tis Truth alone is strong, And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng Troops of beautiful, tall angels, to enshield her from all wrong."

"Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word; Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,— Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own."

"We see dimly in the Present what is small and what is great, Slow of faith how weak an arm may turn this iron helm of fate, But the soul is still oracular; amid the market's din, List the ominous stern whisper from the Delphic cave within,— "They enslave their children's children who make compromise with sin.""

"Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 't is prosperous to be just; Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied."

"Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes, — they were souls that stood alone, While the men they agonized for hurled the contumelious stone, Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam incline To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith divine, By one man's plain truth to manhood and to God's supreme design."

"New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, Nor attempt the Future’s portal with the Past’s blood-rusted key."

"I first drew in New England's air, and from her hardy breast Sucked in the tyrant-hating milk that will not let me rest."

"Before Man made us citizens, great Nature made us men."

"The traitor to humanity is the traitor most accursed; Man is more than Constitutions; better rot beneath the sod, Than to be true to Church and State while we are doubly false to God!"

"The nurse of full-grown souls is solitude."

"Endurance is the crowning quality, And patience all the passion of great hearts."

"One day with life and heart Is more than time enough to find a world."

"Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, First pledge of blithesome May, Which children pluck, and, full of pride, uphold."

"The birch, most shy and lady-like of trees, Her poverty, as best she may, retrieves, And hints at her foregone gentilities With some saved relics of her wealth of leaves."

"The thing we long for, that we are For one transcendent moment."

"Not only around our infancy Doth heaven with all its splendors lie; Daily, with souls that cringe and plot, We Sinais climb and know it not."

"Earth gets its price for what Earth gives us; The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in, The priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us, We bargain for the graves we lie in; At the Devil's booth are all things sold Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold."

"There is no price set on the lavish summer, And June may be had by the poorest comer."

"From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature’s text; And embryo Good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the Evil in its nature."