Some Outstanding Positive
Quotations
Compiled by myron@tdstelme.net
For convenience, I have divided these favorite quotations into two basic
categories:
I. Enrichment [or Guidance
or Self-Help or How-To] Quotations, each of which must:
1. Be fundamentally (and preferably entirely) positive;
2. Be a great, timeless, universal, endearing and often ideal truth which,
when faithfully adhered to and practiced, inspires you to improve one or
more basic aspects of your own life or the lives of others.
II. Descriptive Quotations,
each of which must:
1. Be beautiful, edifying, enlightening and enjoyable to read and contemplate;
2. Provide some profound and pleasant insight into humanity or nature.
All quotations listed here were gleaned primarily from old books, and
hence believed to be fully exempt from all current United States copyright
restrictions. They are a part of humanity's great heritage, and as such
should be preserved and treasured. Of the tens of thousands of quotations
at my disposal, only the very best of the best
have been selected to appear here.
(Since I plan to expand and update this page, please check back regularly
for more good quotes.)
Enrichment Quotations
Do unto others as you would
have others do unto you. [The Golden Rule.] Bible.
Do unto another what you
would he should do unto you, and do not unto another what you would not
should be done unto you. Thou only needest this law alone; it is the foundation
and principle of all the rest. We cannot observe the necessary rules of
life, it there be wanting these three virtues: (1) Wisdom, which makes
us discern good from evil. (2) Universal love, which makes us love all
men who are virtuous. (3) That resolution which makes us constantly persevere
in the adherence to good, and aversion for evil. Confucius.
If you wish to be loved,
love. Seneca.
Love and be loved. Benjamin
Franklin.
Would you be loved, love
and be lovable. Benjamin Franklin.
If you'd be beloved, make
yourself amiable. A true friend is the best possession. Benjamin Franklin.
John Wesley's Rule.
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Make all you can, save all
you can, give all you can. John Wesley.
"Look upon the bright side
of all things." S. W. W. and M. S. H.
Be generous and pleasant-tempered,
and forgiving; even as God scatters favors over thee, do thou scatter over
the people. Saadi.
Reflect upon your present
blessings, of which every man has many.... Dickens.
Esteem all things that are
good. Tibullus.
A SMILE
A SMILE COSTS NOTHING,
but gives so much.
It enriches those who receive,
without making poorer
those who give.
It takes but a moment,
but the memory of it
sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mighty
that he can get along without it,
and none is so poor
but that he cannot be made rich by it.
A smile creates happiness in the home,
fosters goodwill in business,
and is the countersign of friendship.
It brings rest to the weary,
cheer to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad,
and it is nature's best
antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought,
begged, borrowed or stolen,
for it is something
that is of no value to anyone
until it is given away.
Some people are too tired
to give you a smile;
give them one of yours,
as none needs a smile
so much as he
who has no more to give.
—Anon
A SMILE.
Who can tell the value of a
smile? It costs the giver nothing, but is beyond price to the erring and
relenting, the sad and cheerless, the lost and forsaken. It disarms malice,
subdues temper, turns hatred to love, revenge to kindness, and paves the
darkest paths with gems of sunlight. A smile on the brow betrays a kind
heart, a pleasant friend, an affectionate brother, a dutiful son, a happy
husband. It adds a charm to beauty, it decorates the face of the deformed,
and makes a lovely woman resemble an angel in paradise. Tryon Edwards.
The Right Mental Attitude
Elbert Hubbard.
Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of the
head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the sunshine; greet
your friends with a smile, and put soul into every hand-clasp.
Do not fear being misunderstood; and never waste a minute thinking
about your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like
to do, and then without violence of direction you will move straight to
the goal.
Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do;
and then, as the days go gliding by, you will find yourself unconsciously
seizing upon the opportunities that are required for the fulfilment of
your desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the elements
it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire
to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular
individual.
Thought is supreme. Preserve the right mental attitude—the attitude
of courage, frankness and good-cheer. To think rightly is to create.
All things come through desire, and every sincere prayer is answered.
We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and
the crown of your head high. We are gods in the chrysalis.
* * *
Cultivate a spirit of love.
Love is the diamond amongst the jewels of the believer's breastplate. The
other graces shine like the precious stones of nature, with their own peculiar
lustre, and various hues; now in white all the colors are united, so in
live is centred every other grace and virtue; love is the fulfilling of
the law. Rev. W. H. Milburn.
Be loving, and you will
never want for love; be humble, and you will never want for guiding. Miss
Mulock.
Learn to laugh. A good laugh
is better than medicine. Learn to tell a story. A well told story is as
welcome as a sunbeam in a sick room. Learn to keep your troubles to yourself.
The world is too busy to care for your ills and sorrows. Learn to do something
for others. Even if you are a bedridden invalid there is always something
that you can do to make others happier, and that is the surest way to attain
happiness for yourself. Anon.
The rule is simple: Be sober
and temperate, and you will be healthy. Franklin.
Look to your health; and
if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience. Izaak
Walton.
Follow your honest convictions,
and be strong. Thackeray.
Sow good services; sweet
remembrances will grow from them. Mme. de Staël.
Collect as precious pearls
the words of the wise and virtuous. Abd-el-Kadar.
Obey thy parents; keep thy
word justly; swear not. Shakespeare.
Adopt the pace of Nature:
her secret is patience. Emerson.
Strive, while improving
your one talent, to enrich your whole capital as a man. Bulwer-Lytton.
Make your best thoughts
into action. Mme. Necker.
Nurture your minds with
great thoughts. Beaconsfield.
Attach thyself to truth;
defend justice; rejoice in the beautiful. That which comes to thee with
time, time will take away; that which is eternal will remain in thy heart.
Esaias Taylor.
Keep true to the dreams
of thy youth. Schiller.
Cherish the love of peace.
Buddha.
Treat old age with great
respect and tenderness. Zoroaster.
Be very scrupulous to observe
the truth in all things. Zoroaster.
Multiply domestic animals,
nourish them, and treat them gently. Zoroaster.
If thy heart yearns for
love, be loving; if thou wouldst free mankind, be free; if thou wouldst
have a brother frank to thee, be frank to him. ... Be found with thine
own conscience in that circle of duties which widens ever, till it enthrones
all beings and touches the throne of God. Lydia Maria Child.
Let every dawn of morning
be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as
its close:—then let every one of these short lives leave its sure record
of some kindly thing done for others—some goodly strength or knowledge
gained for yourselves. J. Ruskin.
Perform a kind action, and
you find a kind feeling growing in yourself, even if it was not there before.
As you increase the number of your kind and charitable interests, you find
that the more you do for them, the more you love them. Serve others, not
because they are your friends, not because they are interesting, not because
they are grateful. . . . Serve them because they are the children of your
Father, and therefore are all your brethren, and you will soon find that
the fervent heart keeps time with the charitable hands. W. B. O. Peabody.
Keep thyself, then, simple,
good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, a worshipper
of the gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous in all proper acts. Short is
life. There is only one fruit of this terrene life,—a pious disposition
and social acts. Marcus Aurelius.
Tread cheerfully every day
the path in which Providence leads; seek nothing, be discouraged by nothing,
see duty in the present moment, trust all without reserve to the will and
power of God. Fénelon.
Ah! be quick to love, make
haste to be kind! Henry Amiel.
Live for something. Do good,
and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storms of time can never
destroy. Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy on the hearts of
thousands you come into contact with year after year. Good deeds will shine
as the stars of heaven. Thomas Chalmers.
Write your name in kindness,
love, and mercy on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with, year
by year, and you will never be forgotten. Chalmers.
When thou wishest to give
thyself delight, think of the excellencies of those who live with thee.
Marcus Aurelius.
Look Up!
Look up! And not down;
Out! And not in;
Forward! And not back;
And lend a hand.
Edward Everett Hale's motto for The Lend-a-Hand Society.
If the sun has gone down,
look up at the stars. If the earth is dark, keep your eyes on heaven. With
God's presence and God's promises, you may always be cheerful. (No Author
Given)
Thank God Every Morning.
"Thank God every morning when
you get up that you have something to do that day which must be done, whether
you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will
breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will,
cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle never know."
Charles Kingsley.
Begin with a generous heart.
Think how you can serve others. They you shall find resources grow. Your
own portion shall not be left desolate. Strength shall be shed through
you. Do the utmost with what you have, and it shall go far enough. O. B.
Frothingham.
Cultivate a thankful spirit!
It will be to thee a perpetual feast. There is, or ought to be, with us
no such thing as small mercies; all are great, because the least are undeserved.
Indeed a really thankful heart will extract motive for gratitude from everything,
making the most even of scanty blessings. J. R. MacDuff.
Find your niche, and fill
it. If it be ever so little, if it is only to be a hewer of wood and drawer
of water, do something in this great battle for God and truth. Spurgeon.
Do you wish always to stray
further? See, good lies as near; learn only to grasp happiness, for happiness
is always there. Goethe.
"With every rising of the sun
Think of your life as just begun." (No Author Given)
Give strong thought to the
happy side of your life and you will establish your life on the happy side.
Christian D. Larson.
Think beautiful thoughts
and your loneliness will disappear. Christian D. Larson.
Be glad of life, because
it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up
at the stars. Henry van Dyke.
Make yourselves nests of
pleasant thoughts. John Ruskin.
Live only in a great To-Day,
whose happy thoughts weave golden hours. Josephine Rollett Wright.
Live on the sunny side;
count everything joy; believe most thoroughly that all things are working
for greater and greater good to you, and be determined to prove it in greater
and greater measure. Christian D. Larson.
Will to be happy and you
will be happy. Ossian Lang.
If you want to be happy
yourself, make others happy. If you want to make others happy, be first
happy yourself. There you have the whole formula. Ossian Lang.
Live in perpetual sunshine;
in fact, be sunshine; be the very spirit of joy. Christian D. Larson.
"The secret of happiness
is ‘Do a kindness to some one every day.'" (No Author Given)
Make the attainment of continuous
happiness and greater happiness a permanent part of your strongest ambition.
You will soon find results. Your unhappy moments will become less and less
frequent, as well as less and less significant, while your happy moments
will become so numerous as to almost become one continuous moment, and
the richness of your joy will increase daily to a most satisfying degree.
Christian D. Larson.
Let 'Bright, Cheerful and
Happy,' be your watchword, and try to live it out. (Thought Vibration.)
William Walker Atkinson.
Make it a point to be happy
no matter what comes. Christian D. Larson.
Learn to think that everything
must come out better and better if you only do your best; then proceed
to do your best. Have no fear of results so long as you do your best; and
believe firmly that whatever comes to him who always does his best must
of necessity be good. If it does not appear to be good, it is only temporarily
disguised, and will soon reveal itself to be the greatest blessing that
could have been desired. No person can be unhappy who lives in this thought;
and he who lives constantly in this thought will not only become happier,
and thus healthier, but he will also discover that things always turn out
better and better when we do our best. Christian D. Larson.
Obey; be loyal; do your
work and do it well. This is the message of Nature, and the man cannot
be long unhappy who imitates Nature's examples. Newell Dwight Hillis.
Acquire the habit of expecting
success, of believing in happiness. Nothing succeeds like success; nothing
makes happiness like happiness. Lilian Whiting.
Let us sometimes live—be
it only for an hour, and though we must lay all else aside—to make others
smile. The sacrifice is only in appearance; no one finds more pleasure
for himself than he who knows how, without ostentation, to give himself
that he may procure for those around him a moment of forgetfulness and
happiness. Charles Wagner.
Anyway, look cheerful, no
matter how you feel. George Hodges.
Look steadily on the bright
side of life. Cultivate the grace of a good hope. Imitate the fine optimism
of him of whom it is said that he could see stars where his neighbors saw
only an unbroken expanse of clouds. George Hodges.
Write it in your heart that
every day is the best day of the year. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Learn to give, and not to
take; to drown your own hungry wants in the happiness of lending yourself
to fulfil the interests of those nearest and dearest. Henry Scott Holland.
Seek to cultivate a buoyant,
joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life. Alexander
MacLaren.
Strive to realize a state
of inward happiness, independent of circumstances. J. P. Graves.
If you cannot be happy in
one way, be in another; this facility of disposition wants but little aid
from philosophy, for health and good humour are almost the whole affair.
Sharp.
Walk cheerfully and freely
in God's service. St. Teresa.
If you would be happy, dear
friends, be loving,—loving, not only in feeling, but in expression, in
language, tone, manner, bearing. . . . Begin with your children, at once.
Teach them, while you teach them to walk, to love and to show their love.
Enjoin it on them, that no treasure life will ever bring will be so precious
as the love they may cultivate for and win from each other. Teach them
that riches have wings, that ambition may be defeated even for art, literature,
and every other pursuit, however refined. But love is a treasure that fades
not; that earthly vicissitude impairs not, but shall only strengthen. .
. . Love with our nearest ones must expand into benevolence toward all
men, if it is to keep sweet, and enlarge and sanctify our hearts. Joseph
May.
Guard within yourself that
treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without
regret, how to acquire without meanness. Know how to replace in your heart,
by the happiness of those you love, the happiness that may be wanting to
yourself. George Sand.
Pour fourth all the odour,
colour, charm, and happiness you have to all your friends, to your home,
to your daily society, to the poor and sorrowful, the joyous and the prosperous.
Charm the world by love. Brighten darkened lives, soften the rude, make
a sunshine of peace in stormy places, cover the faults and follies of men
with the flowers of love. Stopford A. Brooke.
Set your shoulder joyously
to the world's wheel. Havelock Ellis.
Strew human life with flowers!
save every hour for the sunshine! exalt your soul! widen the sympathies
of your heart! make joy real now to those you love! Richard Jeffries.
The melody in your soul
will echo the melody you have sung or spoken. Persist in the practice,
speaking always in kindly tones, looking out of kindly eyes, cherishing
kindly feelings, and the habit of kindliness and good cheer will become
a second nature. Your face will be transfigured by the spirit's high endeavour,
and the light of it will comfort and stimulate yourself and others with
the power of living sunshine. "Whoever is capable of joy may learn to maintain
it. Wonderful are the results of training in enjoyment." Sara Hubbard.
Resolve to see the world
on the sunny side, and you have almost won the battle of life at the outset.
Anon.
Learn to smile, get into
the habit of it; learn to sing, make it also a habit; and you will be surprised
how much brighter it makes the world, not only to others, but to yourself!
The smile and the song lessen the burden and light up the way. Anon.
"Let us make our lives like
songs, brave, cheery, tender and true, that shall sing themselves into
other lives, and so help to lighten burdens and cares." (No Author Given)
Let us seek the grace of
a cheerful heart, an even temper, sweetness, gentleness, and brightness
of mind, as walking in His light, and by His grace. Let us pray to Him
to give us the spirit of ever-abundant, ever-springing love, which overpowers
and sweeps away the vexations of life by its own richness and strength,
and which, above all things, unites us to Him who is the fountain and the
centre of all mercy, loving-kindness and joy. John Henry Newman.
Happiness is through helpfulness.
Every morning let us build a booth to shelter someone from life's fierce
heat. Every noon let us dig some life-spring for thirsty lips. Every night
let us be foot for the hungry and shelter for the cold and naked. Newell
Dwight Hillis.
Let us be glad of the good
things we see and hear and feel, and forget what may appear disagreeable.
Ossian Lang.
Do right, and God's recompense
to you will be the power of doing more right. Give, and God's reward to
you will be the spirit of giving more: a blessed spirit, for it is the
Spirit of God himself, whose Life is the blessedness of giving. Love, and
God will pay you with the capacity for more love; for love is Heaven—love
is God within you. F. W. Robertson.
Have faith in yourself and
you will always be at your best; you will constantly express the best that
exists in your conscious nature, and your work will be the result of your
greatest capacity and highest efficiency. Christian D. Larson.
Touch your lips with
gladness and go singing on your way,
Smiles will strangely lighten every duty;
Just a little word
of cheer may span a sky of gray
With hope's own heaven-tinted bow of beauty.
Wear a pleasant face
wherein shall shine a joyful heart,
As shines the sun, the happy fields adorning;
To every care-beclouded
life some ray of light impart,
And touch your lips with gladness every morning.
Nixon Waterman.
Follow the joy of the
sunny path,
Wherever the joy may be;
Tell to another what
gladness hath
A smile on the way for thee.
Keeping the right
evermore in sight,
Follow the way to
truth and light.
Frank Walcott Hutt.
Carry sunshine with you,
Brother, as you go;
Cheerfulness will lighten
Many a weight of woe.
Angels guard the pathway
Darkened by our fears,
Sunshine makes a rainbow
Even of our tears.
Carry sunshine with you;
Skies are often gray;
Then how one small sunbeam
Brightens all the day!
Sunshine shared with others
Gives a warmer glow;
You'll find those who need it
Everywhere you go.
Carry sunshine with you,
All your heart will hold;
‘Twill give light in darkness,
Warmth when winds blow cold;
Gloom will flee its presence;
Hope will turn aside
With joy and contentment
In it to abide.
Carry sunshine, brother;
Earthly suns go down;
Shadows of the gloaming
Veil the glory-crown;
It will cheer and comfort
Through the starless night,
Then be lost in morning's
Glad, eternal light.
—Susan E. Gammons
Thought
Ralph Waldo Trine
Thought is the great builder in human life: it is the determining factor.
Continually think thoughts that are good, and your life will show forth
in goodness, and your body in health and beauty. Continually think evil
thoughts, and your life will show forth in evil, and your body in weakness
and repulsiveness. Think thoughts of love, and you will love and will be
loved. Think thoughts of hatred, and you will hate and will be hated. Each
follows its kind.
But a small thing, apparently,
is a kind look, word, or service of some kind; but, oh! who can tell where
it may end? It costs the giver comparatively nothing; but who can tell
the priceless value of him who receives it? The cup of loving service,
be it merely a cup of cold water, may grow and swell into a boundless river,
refreshing and carrying life and hope in turn to numberless others, and
these to others, and so have no end. This may be just the critical moment
in some life. Given now, it may save or change a life or a destiny. So
don't withhold the bread that's in your keeping, but
"Scatter it with willing fingers, shout for joy to see it go."
There is no greater thing in life that you can do, and nothing that will
bring you such rich and precious returns. Ralph Waldo Trine.
Let this great principle
of service, helpfulness, love, and self-devotion to the interests of one's
fellow-men be made the fundamental principle of all lives, and see how
simplified these great and all-important questions will become. Ay, they
will almost solve themselves. Ralph Waldo Trine.
"Help others to help themselves." Ralph Waldo Trine.
We should fall asleep in
the most cheerful and the happiest possible frame of mind. Our minds should
be filled with lofty thoughts—with thoughts of love and of helpfulness—thoughts
which will continue to create that which is helpful and uplifting, which
will refresh the soul and help us to awake in the morning refreshed and
in superb condition for the day's work.
If you have any difficulty
in banishing unpleasantness or torturing thoughts, force yourself to read
some good, inspiring book—something that will smooth out your wrinkles
and put you in a happy mood; something that will make you see the real
grandeur and beauty of life; something that will make you feel ashamed
of petty meanness and narrow, uncharitable thoughts. Anon.
Open your heart; open it
without measure, that God and His love may enter without measure. Fénelon.
Never lose an opportunity
of seeing anything beautiful....welcome it in every fair face, every fair
sky, every fair flower, and thank Him for it, who is the fountain of all
loveliness, and drink it simply and earnestly with all your eyes; it is
a charmed draught, a cup of blessing. Charles Kingsley.
"Make the best of yourself.
Watch, and plant and sow. Falter not, faint not! Perhaps you cannot bear
such lordly fruit, nor yet such rare, rich flowers as others; but what
of that? Bear the best you can. 'Tis all God asks." S. W. W. and M. S.
H.
Find your purpose and fling
your life out to it; and the loftier your purpose is, the more sure you
will be to make the world richer with every enrichment of yourself. Phillips
Brooks.
Set yourself earnestly to
see what you were made to do, and then set yourself earnestly to do it...and
the loftier your purpose is, the more sure you will be to make the world
richer with every enrichment of yourself. Phillips Brooks.
When happy thoughts come
into your mind, let the thought of God come with them; and when you go
into beautiful or attractive scenes, let the reconciled Presence go with
you; till at last earth is suffused with Heaven, and with the immortal
morning spread upon the mountains, death is done away, and the dark valley
superseded. Jeanie A. Bates Greenough.
The best things are nearest:
breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties
at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the
stars, but do life's plain common work as it comes, certain that daily
duties and daily bread are the sweet things of life. Jeanie A. Bates
Greenough.
If you think a thing is
right, never mind what the many say, stick to it. Elbert Hubbard.
Be moderate in the use of
all things, save fresh air and sunshine. Elbert Hubbard.
Keep the ray of reason!
It is your only guiding star. Elbert Hubbard.
Love for love's sake—there
is nothing better.
It sweetens ever act of
life.
Love grows by giving.
The love we give away is
the only love we keep.
Insight, sympathy, faith,
knowledge and love are the results of love—they are the children of parents
mentally mated.
Love for love's sake. Elbert
Hubbard.
Live one day at a time,
do your work as well as you can, and be kind. Elbert Hubbard.
Perform your work with a
whole heart. Elbert Hubbard.
Live right up to your highest
and best! If you have made mistakes in the past, reparation lies not in
regrets, but in thankfulness that you now know better. Elbert Hubbard.
The Value Of A Smile
Wilbur D. Nesbit
The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worth while,
That costs the least, and does the most, is just a pleasant smile.
The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves its fellowmen,
Will drive away the clouds of gloom and coax the sun again.
Its full of worth, and goodness, too, with human kindness blent—
Its worth a million dollars, and it doesn't cost a cent.
There is no room for sadness where we see a cheery smile;
It always has the same good look—it's never out of style—
It nerves us on to try again when failure makes us blue;
The dimples of encouragement are good for me and you.
Its worth a million dollars, and it doesn't cost a cent.
A smile comes easily enough, a twinkle in the eye
Is natural—and does more good than any long-drawn sigh;
It touches on the heartstrings till they quiver, blithe and long,
And always leaves an echo that is very like a song—
So smile away! Folks understand what by a smile is meant;
It's worth a million dollars, and it doesn't cost a cent.
Be perfect, be of good comfort,
be of one mind, live in peace. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook, 1856.
Resolve to do something
useful, honorable, dutiful, and do it heartily. Frelinghuysen.
Love one another; for love
is of God. 1 John iv. 7.
And then you have to learn
Humility—to put a seal upon your lips and forget what you have done. After
you have been kind, after Love has stolen forth into the world and done
its beautiful work, go back into the shade again and say nothing about
it. Love hides even from itself. Love waives even self-satisfaction. "Love
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." Henry Drummond.
Remember, God's loving eyes
are upon you, amid all little worries and vexations, watching whether you
take them as He would desire. Offer up all such occasions to Him; and if
sometimes you are put out, and give away to impatience, do not be discouraged,
but make haste to regain your lost composure. Francis De Sales.
"Be good, sweet maid,
and let who will be clever,
Do noble things,
not dream them all day long.
And so make
life, love and the great forever
One grand, sweet
song. Charles Kingsley.
Be true, be noble, aim high,
and God will give you strength to keep your ideals. Mabel Hale.
Dream, but let the dreams
be of usefulness and service, of purity and truth. Look away to the mountain-heights,
and, after looking, climb, climb, climb. Make your dreams come true. You
can do it, if they are the right kind. God bless the girl with dreams.
Mabel Hale.
We know but little
now about the conditions of the life that is to come. But what is certain
is that Love must last. God, the Eternal God, is Love. Covet, therefore,
that everlasting gift, that one thing which it is certain is going to stand,
that one coinage which will be current in the universe when all the other
coinages of all the nations of the world shall be useless and unhonored.
You will give yourselves to many things; give yourself first to love. Henry
Drummond.
You find yourself refreshed
by the presence of cheerful people; why not make earnest efforts to confer
that pleasure on others? You will find half the battle is gained if you
never allow yourself to say anything gloomy. Lydia M. Child.
Be happy, but be so with
piety. Madame De Staël.
Hurt No Living Thing
Christina G. Rossetti
Hurt no living thing:
Lady bird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light to leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.
Be cheerful. Give this lonesome world a smile.
We stay at longest, but a little while. Anon.
Look for goodness, look for gladness,
You will meet them all the while;
If you bring a smiling visage
To the glass, you meet a smile.
(No Author Given)
Press On
Nothing in the world
can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not;
nothing is more common
than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not;
unrewarded genius
is almost a proverb.
Education alone will not;
the world is full
of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination
alone are omnipotent.
The slogan, "Press on," has solved
and always will solve
the problem of the human race.
—Calvin Coolidge
(The following quotations are from Edwin Osgood Grover, The Book
of Good Cheer, 1916)
NOW
If you have hard work to do,
Do it now.
Today the skies are clear and blue,
Tomorrow clouds may come in view,
Yesterday is not for you;
Do it now.
If you have a song to sing,
Sing it now.
Let the tones of gladness ring
Clear as song of bird in spring.
Let every day some music bring;
Sing it now.
If you have kind words to say,
Say them now.
Tomorrow may not come your way,
Do a kindness while you may;
Loved ones will not always stay;
Say them now.
If you have a smile to show,
Show it now.
Make hearts happy, roses grow,
Let the friends around you know
The love you have before they go;
Show it now.
[No Author Given] (p. 22)
PASS IT ON
Have you had a kindness show?
Pass it on!
‘Twas not given to you alone!
Pass it on!
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears,
‘Till in Heaven the deed appears;
Pass it on!
—Henry Burton. (p. 37)
Make the best of everything;
Think the best of everybody;
Hope the best for yourself.
—George Stephenson. (p. 45)
SMILE
Smile!
The world is blue enough
Without your feeling blue.
Smile!
There's not half joy enough
Unless you're happy, too.
Smile!
The sun is always shining,
And there's work to do.
Smile!
This world may not be Heaven,
But then it's Home to you.
—E. O. G. (p. 59)
Descriptive Quotations
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
Katherine Lee Bates, America the Beautiful.
God is love. 1 John
iv. 8.
The sun, which ripens
the corn and fills the succulent herb with nutriment, also pencils with
beauty the violet and the rose. J. C. Abbott.
God Almighty first planted
a garden; and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures: it is the greatest
refreshment to the spirits of man. Bacon.
What a joy is there in a
good book, writ by some great master of thought, who breaks into beauty
as in summer the meadow into grass and dandelions and violets, with geraniums
and manifold sweetness. Theodore Parker.
A girl who is full of smiles
and sunshine is a fountain of joy to all who know her. Mabel Hale.
SUCCESS
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 beauty, or failed to express
it; who has always looked for the beat in others and given the best he
had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.—Bessie
A. Stanley. (The Book of Good Cheer, p. 54)
Seasons of Life
Dr. Adams
At a festival party of old and
young, the question was asked: Which season of life was the most happy?
After being freely discussed by the guests, it was referred for answer
to the host, upon whom was the burden of four-score years. He asked if
they had noticed a grove of trees before the dwelling, and said, "When
the spring comes, and in the soft air the buds are breaking on the trees,
and they are covered with blossoms, I think, 'How beautiful is spring!'
and when summer comes and covers the trees with its heavy foliage, and
singing birds are among the branches, I think, 'How beautiful is summer!'
When autumn loads them with golden fruit, and their leaves bear the gorgeous
tint of frost, I think, 'How beautiful is autumn!' And when it is
sear winter, and there is neither foliage or fruit, then I look up, and
through the leafless branches, as I could never until now, I see the stars
shine through."
A lovely countenance is the
fairest of all sights, and the sweetest harmony is the sound of the voice
of her whom we love. Bruyère.
A beautiful woman is the
paradise of the eyes. Fontenelle.
The most beautiful object
in the world, it may be allowed, is a beautiful woman. Macaulay.
A beautiful and chaste woman
is the perfect workmanship of God, and the true glory of angels, the rare
miracle of earth, and the sole wonder of the world. Hermes.
Inner sunshine warms not
only the heart of the owner, but all who come in contact with it. J. T.
Fields.
A good laugh is sunshine
in a house. Thackeray.
Wondrous is the strength
of cheerfulness, altogether past calculation its powers of endurance. Efforts,
to be permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous,—a spirit all sunshine,
graceful from very gladness, beautiful, because bright. Thomas Carlyle.
A good conscience is the
best looking-glass of heaven. Cudworth.
Love is ever busy with his
shuttle, is ever weaving into life's dull warp bright, gorgeous flowers,
and scenes Arcadian. Longfellow.
Every dewdrop and raindrop
had a whole heaven within it. Longfellow.
Love turns to the brightest
side of things, and its face is ever directed towards happiness. It sees
'the glory in the grass, the sunshine on the flower.' It encourages happy
thoughts, and lives in an
atmosphere of cheerfulness. It costs nothing, and yet is invaluable;
for it blesses its possessor, and
grows up in abundant happiness in the bosoms of others. Samuel Smiles.
The dew of heaven is as
much needed for the flowers as for the crops in the field. Lady Fullerton.
Flowers are the beautiful
hieroglyphics of Nature, with which she indicates how much she loves us.
Goethe.
Flowers belong to Fairyland:
the flowers and birds and the butterflies are all that the world has kept
of its golden age,—the only perfectly beautiful things on earth,—joyous,
innocent, half divine,—useless, say they who are wiser than God. Ouida.
Flowers, leaves, fruit,
are the air-woven children of light. Moleschott.
Flowers: Prophets of fragrance,
beauty, joy, and song. Ebenezer Elliott.
God, from a beautiful necessity,
is love. Tupper.
A cheerful temper, joined
with innocence, will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful, and
wit good-natured. Addison.
Goodness: The sunshine of
the mind. Bulwer-Lytton.
Good-humor is always a success.
Lavater.
Goodness and love mould
the form into their own image, and cause the joy and beauty of love to
shine forth from every part of the face. Swedenborg.
A good deed is never lost;
he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers
love. Pleasure bestowed upon a grateful mind was never sterile. Basil.
Good deeds ring clear through
heaven, like a bell. Richter.
How goodness heightens beauty!
Hannah More.
Goodness is beauty in its
best estate. Marlowe.
The true and good resemble
gold. Jacobi.
Goodness is the only investment
that never fails. Thoreau.
Happiness is the only good.
The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to
be happy is to make others so.—Robert G. Ingersoll.
All mankind are happier
for having been happy; so that, if you make them happy now, you make them
happy twenty years hence by the memory of it. Sydney Smith.
Health is the vital principle
of bliss. Thomson.
Health and cheerfulness
mutually beget each other. Addison.
Health and cheerfulness
make beauty. Cervantes.
A 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. Whittier.
The heart, in the celestial
sphere of love, is like the sun in its course. From the drop in the rose
to the ocean, all is for him a mirror, which he fills and brightens. Richter.
Our natural and happiest
life is when we lose ourselves in the exquisite absorption of home, the
delicious retirement of dependent love. Miss Mulock.
Love is a canvas furnished
by Nature, and embroidered by the imagination. Voltaire.
Joy in this world is like
a rainbow, which in the morning appears in the west, or towards the evening
sky; but in the latter hours of day casts its triumphal arch over the east,
or morning sky. Richter.
Paradise is open to all
kinds of hearts. Béranger.
Kindness, the poetry of
the heart. Aimé-Martin.
Kindness gives birth to
kindness, love to love. Mme. Necker.
To cultivate kindness is
a valuable part of the business of life. Dr. Johnson.
Kind words are the music
of the world. F. W. Faber.
There is a vast deal of
vital air in loving words. Landor.
Four sweet lips, two pure
souls, and one undying affection,—these are love's pretty ingredients for
a kiss. Bovée.
Eden revives in the first
kiss of love. Byron.
Kisses: The blossom of love.
Ninon de Lenclos.
Kisses are the messengers
of love. Martin Optiz.
When God formed the rose,
he said, "Thou shalt flourish and spread thy perfume." When he commanded
the sun to emerge from chaos, he added, "Thou shalt enlighten and warm
the world." When he gave life to the lark, he enjoined upon it to soar
and sing in the air. Finally, he created man and told him to love. And
seeing the sun shine, perceiving the rose scattering its odors, hearing
the lark warble in the air, how can man help loving? Grün.
Love is the highest word;
it is the synonyme of God. Lamartine.
Love is the golden ladder
upon which the heart mounts to heaven. Geibel.
Love is the road to God;
for love, endless love, is Himself. Sonnenberg.
To embrace the whole creation
with love sounds beautiful; but we must begin with the individual, and
the nearest. Herder.
Love is the purification
of the heart from self; it strengthens and ennobles the character, gives
higher motives and a nobler aim to every action of life, and makes both
man and woman strong, noble, and courageous. Miss Jewsbury.
The fountain of love is
the rose and the lily, the sun and the dove. Heinrich Heine.
Oh, how beautiful is love!
Longfellow.
A good woman is the loveliest
flower that blooms under heaven; and we look with love and wonder upon
its silent grace, its pure fragrance, its delicate bloom of beauty. Thackeray.
Music is a thing of the
soul, a rose-lipped shell that murmured of the eternal sea, a strange bird
singing the songs of another shore. J. G. Holland.
Music is the harmonious
voice of creation, an echo of the invisible world, one note of the divine
concord which the entire universe is destined one day to sound. Congreve.
Gentleness and kindness
will make our homes a paradise upon earth. Bartol.
A good conscience is paradise.
Arminius.
The perfection of outward
loveliness is the soul shinning through its crystalline covering. Jane
Porter.
Those are poets who write
thoughts as fragrant as flowers, and in as many-colored words. Mme. De
Krudener.
Truth shines the brighter,
clad in verse. Pope.
Poetry is the blossom and
the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions,
language. Coleridge.
Politeness is a wreath of
flowers that adorns the world. Mme. de Bassanville.
The truest politeness comes
in sincerity. Samuel Smiles.
Politeness is as natural
to delicate natures as perfume is to flowers. De Finod.
True politeness is the spirit
of benevolence showing itself in a refined way. It is the expression of
good-will and kindness. It promotes both beauty in the man who possesses
it, and happiness in those who are about him. It is a religious duty, and
should be a part of religious training. Beecher.
The genius, wit, and spirit
of a nation are discovered in their proverbs. Bacon.
Proverbs: Infinite riches
in a little room. Marlowe.
We must be purposely kind
and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes
out of itself gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the
inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something for others. Horace
Mann.
Every pure thought is a
glimpse of God. Bartol.
Purity of heart is the noblest
inheritance, and love the fairest ornament, of woman. Matthias Claudius.
Rainbow: Bright pledge of
peace and sunshine. Henry Vaughan.
Roses: The smiles of God's
goodness. Wilberforce.
Those who love with purity
consider not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver. Thomas à
Kempis.
A woman has two smiles that
an angel might envy,—the smile that accepts a lover afore words are uttered,
and the smile that lights on the first-born baby. Haliburton.
A beautiful smile is to
the female countenance what the sunbeam is to the landscape; it embellishes
an inferior face, and redeems an ugly one. Lavater.
Anything which elevates
the mind is sublime. Greatness of matter, space, power, virtue or beauty,
all are sublime. Ruskin.
When the sun shines on you,
you see your friends. It requires sunshine to be seen by them to advantage!
Lady Blessington.
Beautiful thoughts flit
across the brain, like butterflies in the sun's rays, and are as difficult
to capture. Anna Cora Mowatt.
We should manage our thoughts
as shepherds do their flowers in making a garland: first, select the choicest,
and then dispose them in the most proper places, that every one may reflect
a part of its color and brightness on the next. Coleridge.
A delicate thought is a
flower of the mind. Charles Rollin.
Good thoughts are blessed
guests, and should be heartily welcomed, well fed, and much sought after.
Like rose leaves, they give out a sweet smell if laid up in the jay of
memory. Spurgeon.
Lost, yesterday, somewhere
between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond
minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever! Horace Mann.
In heaven the trees of live
ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines yield nectar. Milton.
Truth is the source of every
good to gods and men. He who expects to be blessed and fortunate in this
world should be a partaker of it from the earliest moment of his life.
Plato.
The only amaranthine flower
on earth is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth. Cowper.
The paths of virtue, though
seldom those of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness and
peace. Sir Walter Scott.
Good sense, good health,
good conscience, and good fame,—all these belong to virtue, and all prove
that virtue has a title to your love. Cowper.
Virtue is the beauty of
the soul. Socrates.
To worthiest things, virtue,
art, beauty, fortune, now I see, rareness of use, not nature, value brings.
Donne.
The voice is the flower
of beauty. Zeno.
How sweetly sounds the voice
of a good woman! It is so seldom heard that when it speaks, it ravishes
all senses. Massinger.
Of all pure things, purity
in the acquisition of riches is the best. He who preserves purity in becoming
rich is really pure, not he who is purified by water. Manu.
Of earth's goods, the best
is a good wife.... Simonides.
All women are, in some degree,
poets in imagination, angels in heart, and diplomatists in mind. Emmanuel
Gonzales.
Purity in heart is the noblest
inheritance, and love the fairest ornament of woman. Matthias Claudius.
There is on earth no greater
treasure or more desirable possession for man, than a woman who truly loves
him. Sainte-Foi.
Woman is superlative; the
best leader in life, the best guide in happy days, the best consoler in
sorrow. Seume.
There is a woman at the
beginning of all great things. Lamartine.
Woman: The crown of creation.
Herder.
Woman is the Sunday of man;
not his repose only, but his joy; the salt of his life. Michelet.
A woman's life is her love;
she does not begin to live until she begins to love. Florence Marryat.
Women have the genius of
charity. E. W. Legouvé.
Honor women; they strew
celestial roses on the pathway of our terrestrial life. Boiste.
She who dreams she is happy
is happy. Mme. Deluzy.
God has placed the genius
of women in their hearts, because the works of this genius are always works
of love. Lamartine.
Woman: Her step is music,
and her voice is song. Bailey.
Fair words gladden so many
a heart. Longfellow.
Nothing is impossible to
industry. Periander.
Youth is life's beautiful
moment. Lacordaire.
House Plants and Flowers
Home should be bright and happy;
it should have everything to make it cheerful and pleasant. Flowers are
decorated with all the colors of the rainbow; plants breathe, and their
breath is perfume. To cultivate these is not only a pleasant pastime; they
give beauty to the house and garden. Henry Davenport Northrop.
The love of the perfect
man is a universal love; a love whose object is all mankind. Confucius.
It is not enough to know
virtue; it is necessary to love it—but it is not sufficient to love it;
it is necessary to possess it. Confucius.
If a man does what is good,
let him do it again; let him delight in it; happiness is the outcome of
good. Buddha.
As the bee collects nectar
and departs without injuring the flower, or its color or fragrance, so
let the sage dwell on earth. Buddha.
The virtuous man delights
in this world, and he delights in the next. He delights, he rejoices, when
he sees the purity of his own work. Buddha.
Let no man think lightly
of good, saying in his heart, it will not benefit me. Even by the falling
of water-drops a water-pot is filled; the wise man becomes full of good,
even if he gathers it little by little. Buddha.
Better than sovereignty,
better than going to heaven, better than lordship over all worlds, is the
reward of the first step in holiness. Buddha.
Like a beautiful flower,
full of color, but without perfume, are the fine but fruitless words of
him who does not act accordingly; but like a beautiful flower, full of
color and full of perfume, are the fruitful words of him who acts accordingly.
Buddha.
All good thoughts, words
and actions are the productions of the celestial world. Zoroaster.
Good-nature is the beauty
of the mind, and, like personal beauty, wins almost without anything else,—sometimes,
indeed, in spite of positive deficiencies. Jonas Hanway.
I cannot but think that
the world would be better and brighter if our teachers would dwell on the
Duty of Happiness as well as on the Happiness of Duty; for we ought to
be as cheerful as we can, if only because to be happy ourselves is a most
effectual contribution to the happiness of others. Sir John Lubbock.
Love and wisdom are never
given without equivalent; everything produces after its kind; love begets
love—offices of love produce offices of love—smiles, smiles—gentleness,
gentleness—activity, activity. It is just so with knowledge: let us tell
what we know, and we are told unto: gifts go to the giver: the rich have
the most presents, so the rich in knowledge learn the most, the rich in
love are the most beloved: we always receive of that which we have, so
true is that enigma of Jesus, "To him that hath shall be given." Always
of that which we have the most do we receive the most; and, I think, this
comes from the continual flux and reflux of spirit: the air rushes to full
up the vacuum, and it always takes the form of the vacuum it fills. Eliza
T. Clapp.
Good deeds are very fruitful.
Out of one good action of ours, God produces a thousand; the harvest whereof
is perpetual. If good deeds were utterly barren and incommodious, I would
seek after them from a consciousness of their own goodness; how much more
shall I now be encouraged to perform them, that they are so profitable
both to myself and others! Bishop Hall.
Love is active, sincere,
affectionate, pleasant, and amiable; courageous, patient, faithful, prudent,
long-suffering, manly, and never seeking itself. For in whatever instance
a person seeketh himself, there he falleth from love. Thomas À Kempis.
Every good act is Charity.
Giving water to the thirsty is charity. Removing stones and thorns from
the road is charity. Exhorting your fellow-men to virtuous deeds is charity.
Smiling in your brother's face is charity. Putting a wanderer in the right
path is charity. A man's true wealth is the good he does in this world.
When he dies, mortals will ask what property has he left behind him; but
angels will inquire, "What good deeds hast thou sent before thee?" Mahomet.
Pleasant Smiles; gentle
Tones; cheery Greetings; Tempers sweet under a headache, or a business
care, or the children's noise; the ready bubbling over of Thoughtfulness
for one another,—and habits of smiling, greeting, forbearing, thinking
in these ways. It is these above all else which makes one's home "a building
of God, a house not made with hands"; these that we hear in the song of
"Home, Sweet Home." William C. Gannett.
Character is made up of
small duties faithfully performed,—of self-denials, of self-sacrifices,
of kindly acts of love and duty. The backbone of character is laid at home;
and whether the constitutional tendencies be good or bad, home influences
will, as a rule, fan them into activity. . . . Kindness begets kindness,
and truth and trust will bear a rich harvest of truth and trust. There
are many little trivial acts of kindness which teach us more about a man's
character than many vague phrases. S. Smiles.
Every one must have felt
that a cheerful friend is like a sunny day, which sheds its brightness
on all around; and most of us can, if we choose, make of this world either
a palace or a prison. Sir John Lubbock.
Pleasure is very reflective,
and if you give it you will feel it. The pleasure you give by kindness
of manner returns to you, and often with compound interest. Sydney Smith.
Love, amid the other graces
in this world, is like a cathedral tower, which begins on the earth, and
at first is surrounded by other parts of the structure. But at length,
rising above buttressed wall and arch and parapet and pinnacle, it shoots
spire-like many a foot high into the air, so high that the huge cross on
its summit glows like a spark in the morning light, and shines like a star
in the evening sky, when the rest of the pile is enveloped in darkness.
So Love here is surrounded by the other graces, and divides the honors
with them; but they will have felt the wrap of night and of darkness, when
it will shine luminous, against the sky of eternity. Henry Ward Beecher.
Happy is the man who has
it in his soul which acts upon the dejected as April airs upon violet roots.
Gifts from the hand are silver and gold, but the heart gives that which
neither silver nor gold can buy. To be full of goodness, full of cheerfulness,
full of sympathy, full of helpful hope, causes a man to carry blessings
of which he is himself as unconscious as a lamp is of its own shining.
Such an one moves on human life as stars move over dark seas to bewildered
mariners; as the sun wheels, bringing all the seasons with him from the
south. Henry Ward Beecher.
Brother men, one act of
charity will teach us more of the love of God than a thousand sermons.
Frederick W. Robertson.
Taking the first footstep
with the good thought, the second with a good word, and the third with
a good deed, I entered Paradise. Zoroaster.
Faith at most but makes
a hero, but love makes a saint; faith can but put us above the world, but
love brings us under God's throne; faith can but make us sober, but love
makes us happy. John Henry Newmen.
But bright thoughts, clear
deeds, constancy, fidelity, beauty, and generous honesty are the gems of
noble minds. Sir Thomas Browne.
The joy of heaven is the
joy of love. The key to it is in Christ, who for the joy that was set before
Him endured all. Christ's was the joy of self-sacrifice, of giving up his
life to another. But this is no joy save to those who love. James Hinton.
Somebody.
Somebody did a golden deed;
Somebody proved a friend in need;
Somebody sang a beautiful song;
Somebody smiled the whole day long;
Somebody thought "Tis sweet to live";
Somebody said "I'm glad to give";
Somebody fought a valiant fight;
Somebody lived to shield the right;
Was that "somebody" you?
(No Author Given)
Do It Now.
I expect to pass through this
world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness
I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer
nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. Stephen Grellet.
Water.
Sweet, beautiful water—brewed
in the running brook, the rippling fountain and the laughing rill—in the
limpid cascade, as it joyfully leaps down the side of the mountain. Brewed
in yonder mountain top, whose granite peak glitters like gold bathed in
the morning sun—brewed in the sparkling dewdrop; sweet, beautiful water—brewed
in the crested wave of the ocean deeps, driven by the storm, breathing
its terrible anthem of the God of the sea—brewed in the fleecy foam and
the whitened spray as it hangs like a speck over the distant cataract—brewed
in the clouds of Heaven; sweet, beautiful water! As it sings in the rain
shower and dances in the hailstorm—as it comes sweeping don in feathery
flakes, clothing the earth in a spotless mantle of white. Distilled in
the golden tissues that paint the western sky at the setting of the sun,
and the silvery tissues that vein the midnight moon—sweet, health-giving,
beautiful water! Distilled in the rainbow of promise, whose warp is the
raindrops of Earth, and whose woof is the sunbeam of Heaven—sweet, beautiful
water. John B. Gough.
A kind heart is a fountain
of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles.
Irving.
How beautiful this world
would be if we always saw God in it as our friend and father. If we saw
immortal love in all things, how joyful would work become, how easy all
our duty grow, how simplified the problems of life! That would be the coming
of the kingdom of God, the reign of the Prince of Peace. J. F. Clarke.
"For every good deed of
ours, the world will be better always. And perhaps no day does a man walk
down a street cheerfully, and like a child of God, without some passengers
being brightened by his face, and, unknowingly to himself, catching from
its look a something of religion." (No Author Given)
Doing good is the only certainly
happy action of a man's life. Sir Philip Sidney.
All that is good, all that
is true, all that is beautiful, all that is beneficent, be it great or
small, be it perfect or fragmentary, natural as well as supernatural, moral
as well as material, comes from God. John Henry Newmen.
Every rose is an autograph
from the hand of the Almighty God. On this world about us He has inscribed
His thought, in those marvellous hieroglyphs which sense and science have
been these many thousand years seeking to understand. The universe itself
is a great Autograph of the Almighty. Theodore Parker.
Think what it is to be full
of love to every creature; to be frightened at nothing, to be sure that
all things will turn to good, not to mind pain, because it is our Father's
will; to know that nothing could part us from God who loves us, and who
fills our souls with peace and joy, because we are sure that whatever He
wills is holy, just and good. George Eliot.
The first step toward happiness
is to determine to be happy. George Hodges.
Happiness is one of the
greatest things in the world, and joy is indispensable to any or every
high state of attainment. Therefore, whoever can produce happiness or give
entertainment is doing a work that is equal in every respect to any of
the so-called great works in human life. Christian D. Larson.
To create some little bit
of beauty every day, even if it is no more than rearranging the flowers
in a jar or making a habitation more bright and clean; to serve goodness
every day by even the smallest act of courtesy and kindness; and every
day to learn some fresh fragment of pure truth—these are lines of the necessary
procedure for those who seek naturalization and growth in the Dominion
of Joy. Bliss Carman.
The most satisfactory thing
in all this earthly life is to be able to serve our fellow-beings—first,
those who are bound to us by ties of love, then the wider circle of fellow-townsmen,
fellow-countrymen, or fellow-men. To be of service is a solid foundation
for contentment in this world. Charles W. Eliot.
Happiness, rightly understood,
is the most desirable and the most important thing in life. George Hodges.
Happy is that man who feels
that God cares for him, that he journeys forward under divine convoy, that
his Father is regent of universal wisdom, and represents the whole commonwealth
of love, who is all Nature, and who commands all Nature to serve His child.
Newell Dwight Hillis.
Happiness is the more accommodating
of all things. It will come to a cottage as soon as to a palace. You need
never wait for any outward pomp to come. As the sunshine of the Almighty
will shine through a simple vine as richly as upon the velvet of a king
of upon the gilded dome of a temple, so happiness falls with equal sweetness
upon all whose minds are at peace and in whose hearts flow the good thoughts
of good sentiments of life. David Swing.
Life is richer, love stronger,
truth more beautiful, nature fairer, music sweeter, art diviner, than we
have ever dreamed. Henry Wood.
The truly happy man is the
man whose habits impose upon him the thinking of higher thoughts, dreaming
the noblest dreams, exulting in the deepest joys. Newell Dwight Hillis.
Cheerfulness accompanies
patience, which is one of the main conditions of happiness and success
in life. Samuel Smiles.
There are two fundamental
necessities for a happy life, namely, a useful occupation for mind and
body, and an outlet for unselfish affection. Henry D. Chapin.
Pleasure is a jewel which
will only retain its luster when it is in a setting of work. W. M. Strickler.
Those who cause beauty to
gladden in the world are rewarded by the afterglow of happiness in themselves,
so near is dust to dream, so truly are human achievements a part of the
divine. Bliss Carman.
There should be such gladness
and joy in life that all may partake of it. Lilian Whiting.
"A sense of humor is a saving
grace, and happy is that woman who has been blessed by birth with that
rare sixth sense of 'seeing the funny side.' If you have it naturally,
be gladly grateful, for it is a greater gift than beauty or riches. It
means cheerfulness, contentment, courage and, possessing it, you are equipped
with a potent weapon against the blows of fate." (No Author Given)
We may be sure that cheerful
beliefs about the unseen world, framed in full harmony with the beauty
of the visible universe, and with the sweetness of domestic affections
and joys, and held in company with kindred and friends, will illuminate
the dark places on the pathway of earthly life and brighten all the road.
Charles W. Eliot.
Mental sunshine makes the
mind grow, and perpetual happiness makes human nature a flower garden in
bloom. Christian D. Larson.
He who is virtuous is wise;
and he who is wise is good; and he who is good is happy. King Alfred's
Boethius.
The grateful heart is the
mainspring of happiness. Ossian Lang.
Happiness means a few gentle
drops descending upon the heart like rain and dew. Contentment is a condition
of the soul within. It is but little affected by few or many things without.
Newell Dwight Hillis.
We can encourage happy thoughts
in ourselves and others. Samuel Smiles.
One's birthright is happiness.
It is as freely offered as the sunshine and the air. It is a spiritual
state, and not conditioned by material limits. Lilian Whiting.
A flower by the wayside,
a moonrise over the roofs of the city, a quiet sunset among the purple
hills, the sudden flash of a passing glance in the street, the scent of
some remembered perfume, a breath of spring wind stirring the blind at
an open window, the blessing of a beggar, the sight of a masterpiece in
a museum, news of an old friend, a strain of music, the skill of an acrobat,
or a seasonable word—any one of these ordinary occurrences, if we be capable
of appreciating it, may transport us instantly to the borders of The Dominion
of Joy, invest us with a cloak of happiness, and disclose to us a momentary
glimpse of immortality. Bliss Carman.
I am always content with
that which happens; for I think that what God chooses is better than what
I choose. Epictetus.
Happiness seems made to
be shared. Corneille.
Where the hand does honest
and honorable work, there the heart doth sing. Newell Dwight Hillis.
By kindness, cheerfulness,
and forbearance, we can be happy almost at will, and at the same time spread
happiness about us on every side. Samuel Smiles.
Look ye above!
The Earth is glorious with its summer wreath;
The tall trees bend with verdure; and, beneath
Young flowers are blushing like unwhisper'd love.
John G. Whittier
Our pleasures, like honey,
should be extracted not from a few stately flowers, named and classic,
but from the whole multitude, great and small, which God has sown with
profuse hand to smile in every nook, and to make the darkest corners warm
with their glowing presence. Henry Ward Beecher.
The fields in green array'd,
The cheerful sunshine warm and bright,
For our joy, for our joy,
Our great Creator made.
Tr. From the German by J. C. D. Parker
My heart is fixed firm
and stable in the belief that ultimately the sunshine and the summer, the
flowers and the azure sky, shall become, as it were, interwoven into man's
existence. He shall take form all their beauty and enjoy their glory. Richard
Jeffries.
Love turns to the brightest
side of things, and its face is ever directed towards happiness. It sees
'the glory in the grass, the sunshine on the flower.' It encourages happy
thoughts, and lives in an atmosphere of cheerfulness. It costs nothing,
and yet is invaluable; for it blesses its possessor, and grows up in abundant
happiness in the bosoms of others. Samuel Smiles.
How often and often have
I blessed God for the treasures and dear comforts of His natural world!
Shall I ever be grateful enough for TREES! Henry Ward Beecher.
Those who give their days
and nights to the study and practice of beauty, to the creation of loveliness
in any form, are thereby naturalized in the Dominion of Joy and take on
unconsciously the guise of its gladsomeness. Bliss Carman.
Happy is the man that loves
flowers! Henry Ward Beecher.
Every sort of beauty has
been lavished on our allotted home; beauties to enrapture every sense,
beauties to satisfy every taste; forms the noblest and the loveliest, colors
the most gorgeous and the most delicate, odors the sweetest and subtlest,
harmonies the most soothing and the most stirring; the sunny glories of
the day; the pale Elysian grace of moonlight, the lake, the mountain, the
primrose, the forest, and the boundless ocean; ‘silent pinnacles of aged
snow' in one hemisphere, the marvels of tropical luxuriance in another;
the serenity of sunsets; the sublimity of storms; everything is bestowed
in boundless profusion on the scene of our existence; we can conceive or
desire nothing more exquisite or perfect than what is round us every hour,
and our perceptions are so framed as to be consciously alive to all. (Mr.
Greg, in Pleasures of Life) Sir John Lubbock.
The amount of honey which
we accumulate from the years as they pass, depends not so much upon the
number of flower-gardens through which we rove, as upon our powers of extraction.
Henry Wood.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness.
Keats.
In teaching patience and
perseverance, also Nature teaches us a secret of happiness. Newell Dwight
Hillis.
Nature provides without
stint the main requisites of human happiness. Sir John Lubbock.
Our humble lilies of the
valley and our field sparrows are wise enough to tell us of Nature's overruling
care, that makes happiness possible. Newell Dwight Hillis.
The air seems made up of
happiness, the clouds, the trees, the grass, the pathless birds, land and
water,—all seem to pulsate happiness, to emit it, to breathe it forth upon
us; and it falls upon us as dew upon flowers. Henry Ward Beecher.
We have the command, to
a great extent, over our own lot. At all events, our mind is our own possession;
we can cherish happy thoughts there. Samuel Smiles.
The unselfish person lives
in an environment of happiness, surrounded by those whom he has helped
to be happy, and who in return are endeavoring to bring happiness to him.
George Hodges.
The happy person is the
one who finds occasions for joy at every step. He does not have to look
for them, he just finds them. Ossian Lang.
The soul was made for joy
and good cheer. Newell Dwight Hillis.
A sound Mind and a sound
Body, is a short but full description of a happy State in this World. Locke.
Some persons are always
breaking into happiness, because everything is bringing them pleasure.
It comes in at the eye, and at the ear, at the portals of smell, taste,
and touch, in things little and great, in shapes and colors, in contrasts
and analogies, in exactitudes, and in fanciful associations; in homely
life, and in wild and grand life. Henry Ward Beecher.
"That thou art happy, owe
to God; that thou continuest such, owe to thyself." (No Author Given.)
It is true that some of
the most precious joys of life come to use in quiet moments when we have
no companion but a book, or a green hill, or an expanse of shining water,
or the sound of meditative music or the consciousness of the divine presence.
George Hodges.
To watch the corn grow,
or the blossoms set; to draw hard breath over the ploughshare or spade;
to read, to think, to love, to pray, are the things that make men happy.
Ruskin.
Happiness is inward, and
not outward; and so it does not depend on what we have, but on what we
are. Henry van Dyke.
Mankind are always happier
for having been happy; so that if you make them happy now, you make them
happy twenty years hence by the memory of it. Sydney Smith.
That which is given us for
our joy is ours as long as life shall last; not passing away with the moment
of enjoyment, but dwelling with us, and enriching us to the end. The memory
of a past pleasure, derived from any lawful source, is a part of the pleasure
itself, a vital part, which remains in our keeping as long as we recognize
and cherish it. Agnes Repplier.
There is not a moment of
any day of our lives when Nature is not producing scene after scene, picture
after picture, and glory after glory, and working still upon such exquisite
and constant principles of the most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain
it is all done for us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure. Ruskin.
To have given pleasure to
one human being is a recollection that sweetens life. Agnes Repplier.
It is worth every man's
while to study the important art of living happily. Even the poorest man
may by this means extract an increased amount of joy and blessing from
life. Samuel Smiles.
Happy are those whose sweet
and gentle speech fills the common life with sweetness and light. Newell
Dwight Hillis.
A good man is happy within
himself, and independent upon a fortune; kind to his friend, temperate
to his enemy, religiously just, indefatigably laborious; and he discharges
all duties with a constancy and congruity of actions. (Seneca's Morals.)
Sir Roger L'Estrange.
Happiness is not, like a
large and beautiful gem, so uncommon and rare that all search for it is
vain, all efforts to obtain it hopeless; but it consists of a series of
smaller and commoner gems, grouped and set together, forming a pleasing
and graceful whole. Samuel Smiles.
The art of being happy lies
in the power of extracting happiness from common things. Henry Ward Beecher.
Men become the happier when
they realize that Nature is their partner and co-worker in every enterprise.
Newell Dwight Hillis.
Happiness is a sunbeam which
may pass though a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original
ray. Sir P. Sidney.
What ripeness is to the
orange, what sweet song is to the lark, what culture and refinement are
to the intellect, that happiness is to man. Newell Dwight Hillis.
Our life is lived in the
midst of an environment which is the appropriate setting of the jewel of
great joy. George Hodges.
A thousand daily little
things make their offering of pleasure to those who know how to be pleased.
Henry Ward Beecher.
How lovely is this world!
How many joys to us are giv'n,
Blessings fall on us all;
How lovely is this world!
Tr. from the German by J. C. D. Parker.
Just being happy helps other souls along;
Their burdens may be heavy, and they not strong;
And your own sky will lighten
If other skies you brighten
By just being happy, with a heart full of song.
Ripley D. Saunders.
It pays to be happy. Happiness
is not a luxury, but a necessity. The beneficial effect of mental sunshine
on life, ability, strength, vitality, endurance, is most pronounced. Christian
D. Larson.
It is the sum of the small
daily pleasures that are taken and enjoyed as they come, that constitute
the bulk of the happiness of life. Henry D. Chapin.
Virtue is said necesarily
to prduce its own happiness, and to be constantly and adequately its own
reward. John Hawksworth.
Cheerfulness depends not
on our past acts, but on our wholesome view of life, and we get this by
learning to understand it and to understand ourselves. H. E. Rives.
Personal happiness comes,
not by seeking it specifically, but by seeking that nobler quality of living
that produces it as a result. Lilian Whiting.
Happiness consists in the
enjoyment of little pleasures scattered along the common path of life,
which in the eager search for some great and exciting joy, we are apt to
overlook. It finds delight in the performance of common duties, faithfully
and honorably discharged. Samuel Smiles.
Happiness comes from within,
and outward circumstances have but little power over it. John Burroughs.
The foundation of abiding
happiness is one's chosen life work. Newell Dwight Hillis.
We ought to be as cheerful
as we can, if only because to be happy ourselves is a most effectual contribution
to the happiness of others. Sir John Lubbock.
"Kindness brings happiness."
(No Author Given)
Happiness comes to us not
as a reward of merit, but as a proof of worth. It is not a recompense for
abnegation, but a natural satisfaction in normal life, an incalculable
result of real deserving. Bliss Carman.
The cheerful man makes a
cheerful world. Samuel Smiles.
True happiness (if understood)
Consists alone in doing good.
Somerville.
Happiness is a very beautiful
thing,—the most beautiful and heavenly thing in the world,—but it is a
result, a spiritual condition, and is not predetermined by a bank account
or by the flattering incense of praise. Lilian Whiting.
The true basis of cheerfulness
is love, hope, and patience. Samuel Smiles.
Now, happiness produces
happiness. Enjoyment may be cultivated, and is, after all, largely a condition
of habit. Precisely the same circumstances will yield delight to one and
discontent to another, and no process of culture is so admirable as that
which fosters the habitual mood of sunny enjoyment. Lilian Whiting.
To live, we must conquer
incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy. Amiel.
We want moving knowledge
to enable us to enjoy life, and we require to cultivate the art of making
the most of the common means and appliances of enjoyment which lie about
us on every side. Samuel Smiles.
The best way to secure future
happiness is to be as happy as is rightfully possible to-day. Charles William
Eliot.
Who that has truly tasted
and fathomed human love in its dawning and crowning joys has not thanked
God for a felicity which indeed "passeth understanding." Sir John Lubbock.
To be thoroughly and abidingly
happy is not only to get what we all instinctively desire, but to fulfil
the purpose of our nature. George Hodges.
Diamonds of shining joy
lie glittering in every common highway, but most of the passers-by only
stub their toes against them. George Hodges.
Mental sunshine not only
attracts the best from without, but it also cause the best to grow from
within. We all prefer the sunshine, and we are naturally attracted wherever
a sunbeam is in evidence. Christian D. Larson.
If we opened our minds to
enjoyment, we might find tranquil pleasures spread about us on every side.
We might live with the angels that visit us on every sunbeam, and sit with
the fairies who wait on every flower. Samuel Smiles.
It is a matter of economy
to be happy, to view life and all its conditions from the brightest angle.
It enables one to seize life at its best. Horatio W. Dresser.
If you feel cheerful and
happy, it is very natural for you to laugh. And if you will laugh a little,
you will begin to feel bright and cheerful. (Thought Vibration.) William
Walker Atkinson.
Probably the most lasting
source of happiness is found in unselfish love. This keeps alive a constant
interest in those who are the objects of affection, which, in turn, is
naturally reflected into the relations of life. Henry D. Chapin.
A serene face helps to make
a serene soul; a smile on the lips induces a smile in the heart. George
Hodges.
A cultivated sense of humor
directly adds to the happiness of life. Henry D. Chapin.
The Dominion of Joy is as
wide as the universe in which we dwell. Wherever the foot may tread and
the soul subsist, there its beneficent power may extend. Its terminus is
no nearer than the outmost star that glimmers within the sweep of vision.
Bliss Carman.
Cheerfulness is an excellent
wearing quality. It has been called the bright weather of the heart. It
gives harmony of soul, and is a perpetual song without words. Samuel Smiles.
Pleasure, like all other
truly precious things in this world, cannot be bought or sold. If you wish
to be amused, you must do your part toward it; that is the essential. Charles
Wagner.
Happiness depends on helpfulness
as health depends on air and food—because we are made that way. George
Hodges.
Our happiness as human beings,
generally speaking, will be found to be very much in proportion to the
number of things we love, and the number of things that love us. Samuel
Smiles.
To believe and go forward
is the key to success and to happiness. Lilian Whiting.
He who has done the best
he can, has a right to be as happy in the hope of ultimate triumph as though
he was already enthroned amidst that triumph. Newell Dwight Hillis.
The very essence of happiness
is honesty, sincerity, truthfulness. He who would have real happiness for
his companion must be clean, straightforward, and sincere. The moment he
departs from the right she will take wings and fly away. Orison Swett Marden.
They who bring sunshine
to the hearts of others cannot keep it from themselves. J. M. Barrie.
The happiness that is earned
lasts to make way for more happiness. David Starr Jordan.
It is a great thing to cultivate
the art of happiness, that we can get pleasure out of the common experiences
of every day. Orison Swett Marden.
Grant that these autumn
days may be our harvest season; that our lives may reap the fruitage of
a well-spent year. Let us be happy with the joy of the flaming hillsides,
with the glory of the Indian summer, with the ecstasy of the ripening grain;
happy in the harvest of our high hopes, in the garner of sweet memories,
in the ripening of true friendships, in the reaping of bounteous blessings
of the buoyant spring and brimming summer; happy in the knowledge of some
little kindness done, some great good gained; happy in our new strength,
our surer hope, our wider lives and loftier vision. Let these be our jubilant
days, the days of our rejoicing. Edwin Osgood Grover.
If our hearts do but keep
fresh, we may still love those who are gone, and may still find happiness
in loving them. Julius C. Hare.
Happiness is the result
of selection. Just as the farmers of Iowa have doubled their crop of corn
by a scientific selection of seed, so human souls increase the sum of happiness,
by a wise selection of thoughts. Good thoughts are the good seed of the
soul. No man can be happy who is careless of his thinking. Much of life's
misery would be eliminated at once if we would only think God's thoughts
in God's way. God never doubts. He sees all truth and knows it to be such.
The soul that accepts His revelations without reservation has unlocked
the treasure house of happiness. D. C. Knowles.
The happiness of your life
depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Marcus Aurelius.
Little kindnesses, pleasant
words, little helps by the way, trifling courtesies, little encouragements,
duties faithfully done, unselfish service, work that we enjoy, friendships,
love and affection—all these are simple things, yet they are what constitute
happiness. Orison Swett Marden.
Joys shared with others
are more enjoyed. Anon.
Faith, hope and love are
purifiers of the blood. They have a peptic quality. They open and enlarge
all the channels of bodily vitality. As was learned long ago, "A merry
heart doeth good like a medicine." And the self-control which keeps reason
on the throne and makes passion serve is the best of all domestic physicians.
Charles G. Ames.
Happiness, like virtue, is acquired
by practice. Anon.
The true Christian joy can sing,
or be silent, at all seasons. It is weatherproof. The storms cannot quench
its fire. The summer heat cannot wilt its blossoms. It takes pleasure in
the little things which please the child and loses itself in the wonder
of God's sustaining presence. It can sing for lightness of heart in summer
days and take courage to go on amid the wreck of all its hopes. To be lord
of such a joy is surely a divine ideal for man and worth a lifetime's trouble.
Anon.
The Christian's song of
gladness is a psalm of gratitude, the echoes of which may be heard from
every object around him. He sympathizes with all the innocent joy on the
earth; but he remembers that all this joy has a source, and he looks beyond
earth and earthly things. He regards his happiness as given; and he is
grateful, and seeks to impart of his abundance, and make others happy and
cheerful and grateful. Greenwood.
The greatest happiness comes
from the greatest activity. Bovée.
Happiness is a glory shining
far down upon us, out of heaven. It is a divine dew which the soul, on
certain of its summer evenings, feels dropping upon it from the amaranth
bloom and golden fruitage of Paradise. Charlotte Bronte.
Life is made up, not of
great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles, and
kindness and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve
the heart and secure comfort. Sir H. Davy.
The grand essentials to
happiness in this life are, something to do, something to love, and something
to hope for. Anon.
Our faces ought to reflect
back the sunshine of heaven, and the joyful tones of our voices to seem
the echo of its hallelujahs. F. P. Cobb.
He is happy who knows his
good fortune. Chinese Proverb.
The more we limit and concentrate
happiness, the more certain we are of securing it. Deverant.
Those who have the most
of happiness think the least about it. But in thinking about and in doing
their duty happiness comes—because the heart and mind are occupied with
earnest thought that touches at a thousand points the beautiful and sublime
realities of the universe. Thackeray.
To be of use in the world
is the only way to be happy. Hans Andersen.
The infallible receipt for
happiness is to do good. Henry Drummond.
Surely happiness is reflective,
like the light of heaven; and every countenance bright with smiles, and
glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the
rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence. Washington Irving.
The happy people are those
who have work which they love, and a hobby of a totally different kind
which they love even better. Arthur C. Benson.
No one can smile genuinely,
brightly, lovably, who does not possess inward joy. Anon.
The world delights in sunny
people. The old are hungering for love more than for bread. The air of
joy is very cheap; and if you can help the poor on with a garment of praise
it will be better for them than blankets. Henry Durmmond.
Happiness seems made to
be shared with others. Racine.
There is no beautifier of
complexion, or form, or behaviour, like the wish to scatter joy and not
pain around us. Emerson.
The sweetest and happiest
homes—homes to which men in weary life look back with yearnings too deep
for tears; homes whose recollections linger round our manhood like light
and the sunshine and the sweet air, into which no base things can intrude—are
homes where brethren dwell together in unity; where, because all love God,
all love their brothers also; where, because all are very dear to all,
each is dearer to each than to himself. Canon Farrar.
Happy is he that serveth
the happy. English Proverb.
The perfect loveliness of
a woman's countenance can only consist in that majestic peace which is
founded in the memory of happy and useful years, full of sweet records;
and from the joining of this with that more majestic childishness, which
is still full of change and promise—opening always—modest at once, and
bright, with the hope of better things to be won, and to be bestowed. There
is no old age when there is still that promise. Ruskin.
Mankind is always happier
for having been happy; so that if you make them happy now, you make them
happy twenty years hence by the memory of it. Sydney Smith.
He is truly happy who makes
others happy. From the Cingalese.
Happiness lies, first of
all, in health. George William Curtis.
Happiness is no other than
soundness and perfection of mind. Antoninus.
It is a matter of economy
to be happy, to view life and all its conditions from the brightest angle;
it enables one to seize life at its very best. It expands the soul. H.
W. Dresser.
Happiness belongs to those
who are contented. Aristotle.
You have a right to be happy.
Benjamin Keech.
Happiness has no limits,
because God has neither bottom nor bounds, and because happiness is nothing
but the conquest of God through love. Henri Frédéric Amiel.
Just being happy
Is a fine thing
to do;
Looking on the bright
side
Rather than
the blue;
Sad or sunny musing
Is largely in the
choosing,
By just being
happy
Is brave work and
true.
Just being happy
Helps other
souls along;
Their burdens my be
heavy;
And they are
not strong;
And your own sky will
lighten
If other skies you
brighten
By just being
happy
When a heart is full
of song!
Anon.
Happy is he that is happy
in his children. English Proverb.
There is only one thing
greater than happiness in the world, and that is holiness. Henry Drummond.
Enjoying each other's good
is heaven begun. Lucy C. Smith.
The only happiness a brave
man ever troubled himself with asking about, was, happiness enough to get
his work done. Carlyle.
Our happiness in this world
depends on the affections we are enabled to inspire. Duchesse De Praslin.
Happy men shall have many
friends. English Proverb.
No life is successful until
it is radiant. Lilian Whiting.
One sure way to get into
heaven, for a day at least, is to do a kind act to someone who does not
like you. M. M. Pomeroy.
If you wish to know whether
you are a Christian inquire of yourself whether, in and for the love of
God, you seek to make happy those about you by smiles and pleasant sayings.
Are you a comfortable person to live with? Are you pleasant to have about?
Gail Hamilton.
Nature indeed provides without
stint the main requisites of human happiness. "To watch the corn grow,
or the blossoms set; to draw hard breath over ploughshare or spade; to
read, to think, to love, to pray," these, says Ruskin, "are the things
that make men happy." Sir John Lubbock.
The happiest life is that
which constantly exercises and educates what is best in us. Hamerton.
There is no happiness in
having and getting, but only in giving—half the world is on the wrong scent
in the pursuit of happiness. Henry Drummond.
God will reward a thankful
spirit. Just as on earth, when a man receives with gratitude what is given
we are more disposed to give again, so also, "the Lord loveth" a cheerful
"receiver," as well as a cheerful "giver." Anon.
Happiness, Heaven itself,
is nothing else but a perfect conformity, a cheerful and eternal compliance
of all the powers of the soul with the will of God. Samuel Shaw.
Happiness is a wayside flower,
free to all who will pluck it, not a rare orchid only to be purchased by
the rich. There is a bit of joy in every floating, fleecy cloud, every
golden sunset tint in each day's evening sky. There is music in the free
winds of heaven if hearts are a-tune to catch the harmony. And, best of
all, there is the thought of our Father's approving smile, that sunlight
of His presence so sweet, so invigorating, so marvellous that we may learn
to rejoice even "under the shadow." M. G. Woodhull.
That action is best which
procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. Hatcherson.
A happy life is never quite
a spontaneous growth. As a lily from a bulb need cultivation, the flower
of happiness must have some form of gardening to bring it to perfection.
Beatrice Whitby.
The happiest thing that
can befall us is to have work given us that requires us to be true to ourselves,
and that will count in large benefits to others. There is little pleasure
in a daily routine of toil which could be just as well performed by anybody
else; but there is abundant happiness in taking up tasks for which we have
prepared ourselves, and which would perhaps never be as well done by another.
In other words, it is a great privilege to find our own work and to get
leave to do it. Lucy Larcom.
The habit of viewing things
cheerfully, and thinking about life hopefully, may be made to grow up in
us like any other habit. Anon.
Happy he who can live in
peace. French Proverb.
Let it be our happiness
this day to add to the happiness of those around us, to comfort some sorrow,
to relieve some want, to add some strength to our neighbours' virtue. William
Ellery Channing.
It is not how much we have,
but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. Charles H. Spurgeon.
All godlike things are joyous.
They have touched God. F. W. Faber.
Happiness is the natural
flower of duty. Phillips Brooks.
That beauty-loving, beauty-making
power whom we call God, and whom Jesus taught us to call Father, will never
fail. It is the sadness that is passing; the eternal verity is joy. For
God is the eternal foundation, and he is the All-father, loving all his
creatures.
"And I smiled to think God's goodness flowed around our incompleteness,
Round our restlessness His rest." Mary Emily Case.
The only way to get the happiness
that is worth while is to life a straight, clean, pure, honest, useful
life. Orison Swett Marden.
Happiness does away with
ugliness, and even makes the beauty of beauty. The man who doubts it, can
never have watched the first gleams of tenderness dawning in the clear
eyes of one who loves;—sunrise itself is a lesser marvel. In Paradise,
then, everybody will be beautiful. Henri Frederic Amiel.
To make some nook of God's
creation a little fruitfuller,—to make some human heart a little wiser,
manfuller, happier—it is work for a God. Carlyle.
Happiness which comes unexpectedly
will be the more welcome. Horace.
God bless the good-natured,
for they bless everybody else. Anon.
He is happiest, be he king
or peasant, who finds peace in his own home. Goethe.
He who works for the good
of the world holds the key to Happiness. Annie Rogers Noyes.
Great effort from great
motives is the best definition of a happy life. William Ellery Channing.
Is not making others happy
the best happiness? To illuminate for an instant the depths of a deep soul,
to cheer those who bear by sympathy the burden of so many sorrow-laden
hearts and suffering lives, is to me a blessing and a precious privilege.
There is a sort of religious joy in helping to renew the strength and courage
of noble minds. We are surprised to find ourselves the possessors of a
power of which we are not worthy, and we long to exercise it purely and
seriously. Henri Frederic Amiel.
Happiness comes from the
normal exercise of life's functions in any grade, doing, thinking, fighting,
overcoming, planning, loving. It is active, positive, strengthening. It
does not burn out as it glows. Happiness leaves room for more happiness.
. . . Loving brings happiness only as it works itself out into living action.
The love that would end in no helping act and no purpose or responsibility
is a mere torture of the mind. David Starr Jordan.
Only when the song of God's
love is singing in our hearts are we ready for the day. J. R. Miller.
What God has put into our
power is the happiness of those about us, and that is largely to be secured
by our being kind to them. Henry Drummond.
It is a plain duty to make
other glad. Christianity is the greatest joy-bringer the world has ever
known, and those persons are not true to Christianity who do not daily
bring gladness and joy into the lives of those around them. We are not
to dictate to others; we are to seek to brighten their lives. "Not that
we have lordship over your faith," wrote Paul, "but are helpers of your
joy." What a heroic light-bearer the loving-hearted apostle was! Not a
bit more so, however, than we can all be if we are willing to devote ourselves
to lightening the loads, and brightening the lives of those near us. To
keep our sorrows to ourselves in this effort is to find sure comfort for
ourselves while we are making life joyful for others. Anon.
Straightforward, honest
work, a determined endeavour to do one's best, an earnest desire to scatter
flowers instead of thorns, to make other people a little better off, a
little happier because of our existence, these are the only recipes for
real happiness. Orison Swett Marden.
When man and wife are both
given to thinking of each other's comfort and happiness, there is never
any trouble in bringing up a houseful of children without discord, whereas
one child is too many for an exacting wife or a domineering husband to
bring up successfully. Anon.
Happiness grows at our own
fireside and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens. Douglas Jerrold.
Home ought to be a little
heaven on earth. It can be. It was meant to be. Anon.
To be happy is properly
the beginning of all schemes for making happy. Sarah W. Stephen.
It ought to be the deliberate
custom in every home to make the evening just as pleasant as possible,
and to see to it that no member of the family retires in an unhappy mood.
An evening happiness bath, a bath of love and good will toward every living
creature, is more important than a water bath. Anon.
No matter what comes, we
should sing and be thankful, and should always keep sweet. J. R. Miller.
The rewards of great living
are not external things, withheld until the crowning hour of success arrives;
they come by the way—in the consciousness of growing power and worth, of
duties nobly met, and work thoroughly done. Joy and peace are by the way.
Hamilton Wright Mabie.
Summer brings to some of
us a delightful sense of irresponsibility; but the veriest idler has a
vacation if he consecrates the heritage of happiness he gets from the summer
to making other people happy. Mr. J. M. Barrie has a little heroine in
one of his short stories who gives to a certain beggar our of the largeness
of her own happiness, and who goes out of her way when she is very happy
to hear a coin jingle in his cup. Pleasure can never make anybody selfish
when out of it springs this impulse to fill somebody's elses cup of happiness.
We pass this way but once, and so many opportunities to gladden and brighten
other people's lives disappear with the summer; it is only the little kindnesses
that one can do that really abide; it is only the people one associates
with some little kindness that one is sure to recall in one retrospect
of a summer. Anon.
Genuine happiness is a delicate
perfume of a holy life. The sanctified soul exhales happiness as the flowers
emit sweet odours. Heaven is a tropical garden of conscious spirits, and
its atmosphere is laden with happiness as the normal product of their purity.
D. C. Knowles.
"One of the things that
I am thankful for every day that I live is for my share in the world's
work," said a wise and busy woman. "I am thankful that my hands are full."
the blessing of the full hands and the full days is one that we sometimes
fail to appreciate until illness or some misfortune forces us to stand
aside for a time while the eager, useful procession passes by without us.
A vital part of the world we live in, a head and a hand for its work, a
heart for its needs, its joys, its burdens, and faith for its outlook—these
are the best gifts that can be ours for healthful and happy days. Anon.
Happy and strong and brave
shall we be—able to endure all things, and to do all things—if we believe
that every day, every hour, every moment of our life is in His hands. Anon.
Happiness is everywhere,
and its spring is in our own hearts. Ruskin.
To take and to live always
in the attitude of mind that compels gladness, looking for and thus drawing
to us continually the best in all people and all things, being thereby
the creators of our own good fortunes. Ralph Waldo Trine.
Each of us has the power
of making happier, sunnier, the little spot wherein our daily life is spent.
Archbishop of Canterbury.
As we look at the best things,
loving and following them, power enters into us from them—a power not our
own, but give to our use. It has been found in even the primary schools
that a "gem" of lovely verse taught to a little child keeps that child
from temptation and unhappiness in a most surprising way. "I said my gem
over, and everything went right," said one boy to his teacher after an
experience of injustice. Priscilla Leonard.
Happiness, content, and
right satisfaction, all doubts answered, all dark places lighted up, heaven
begun here—this is the reward of loving God. In this world, tribulation;
yes, but good cheer in spite of that. George Hodges.
True beauty must come, must
be grown, from within. Ralph Waldo Trine.
Love's secret is to be always
doing things for God, and not to mind because they are such very little
ones. F. W. Faber.
The only way to make our
life continuously beautiful, and to keep it ever sweet with love, is to
insist on judging ourselves day by day. J. R. Miller.
Loving itself blesses us. It opens our heart and enriches our life.
It teaches us the true meaning of life; for to live truly is to love. J.
R. Miller.
Love is more than a mere
sentiment; it is also a life. The proof of it must be in acts. J. R. Miller.
Every fragment of loveliness
we see in a human life is a heavenly vision sent to woo us upward. Wherever
we see beauty which attracts us, and kindles in us desires and aspirations
for higher attainments, it is a vision from God, whose mission is to call
us to a higher life. We should make sure that we do not prove disobedient
to any heavenly vision, but that we follow every one as an angel sent from
heaven to woo us nearer God. J. R. Miller.
There is a power for good
in everything; in everything something may be found that has true value
and real worth; something that can add value to the welfare of man; but
this something is found, not on the surface, but with the soul of things.
It is therefore necessary to enter into perfect touch with the inner life
of everything to secure the best from everything; and this is possible
only through faith. Christian D. Larson.
Fields, forests, mountains,
smiling valleys, and sunny seas are not more full of creatures than of
happiness; and from the deep bass of ocean to the ringing carol of the
lark, Nature forms one choir and chants her hymns to Him. Dr. Gurthrie.
The Joy of Life
How beautiful it is to be alive!
To wake, each morn, as if the Maker's grace
Did us afresh from nothingness derive,
That we might sing, "How happy is our case!
How beautiful it is to be alive!"
To read in some good book, until we feel
Love for the one who wrote it; then to kneel
Close unto Him whose love our soul doth shrive;
While every moment's joy doth more reveal
How beautiful it is to be alive.
Thus ever towards man's height of nobleness
Striving some new progression to contrive,—
Till, just as any other friend's, we press
Death's hand; and, having died, feel none the less
How beautiful it is to be alive.
—Henry Septimus Sutton.
True glory consists in so
living as to make the world happier and better for our living. Pliny.
"There never was a day that
did not bring its opportunity for doing good that never could have been
done before and never can be again. It must be improved then or never."
S. W. W. and M. S. H.
Each of us is bound to make
the little circle in which he lives better and happier; each of us is bound
to see that out of that small circle the widest good may flow; ... That
out of a single household may flow influences which shall stimulate the
whole commonwealth and the whole civilized world. Dean Stanley.
How beautiful this world
would be if we always saw God in it as our friend and father. If we saw
immortal love in all things, how joyful would work become, how easy all
our duty grow, how simplified the problems of life! That would be the coming
of the kingdom of God, the reign of the Prince of Peace. J. F. Clarke.
"We dream of doing great
things, when we have need only to be content with doing little things close
at hand." S. W. W. and M. S. H.
"For every good deed of
ours, the world will be better always. And perhaps no day does a man walk
down a street cheerfully, and like a child of God, without some passengers
being brightened by his face, and, unknowingly to himself, catching from
its look a something of religion." S. W. W. and M. S. H.
The Infinite Goodness is
not far off, but near us; ...the evening shade, the guarded sleep, the
morning resurrection, every bounty that falls from heaven, every bounty
that spring from earth, every loving heart that blesses us, every sacred
example that wins us, all these are the revelation, the manifested love
of the One, all-holy, all-perfect, whom to know is life. Dr. Dewey.
It is well to think well.
It is divine to act well. Horace Mann.
The greatest gift of our
Heavenly Father is love, and of all gifts it is the most common. This alone
is universal, and the humblest soul, in spite of the lack of opportunity,
may so live that by sheer strength of love alone it may create for itself
a heaven full of the presence of God, who is the Almighty Love. S. W. W.
and M. S. H.
There cannot be a more glorious
object in creation, than a human being, replete with benevolence, meditating
in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator,
by doing most good to His creatures. Fielding.
You must love, in order
to understand love. One act of charity will teach us more of the love of
God than a thousand sermons. One act of unselfishness, of real self-denial,
will tell us more of the meaning of the Epiphany than whole volumes of
theology. F. W. Robertson.
Beautiful is the activity
which works for good, and beautiful the stillness which waits for good:
blessed the self-sacrifice of the one, and blessed the self-forgetfulness
of the other. Robert Collyer.
Doing nothing for others
is the undoing of one's self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or
we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself gets
large and full of joy. This is the great secret of inner life. We do ourselves
the most good doing something for others. Horace Mann.
There are glimpses of Heaven
granted to us by every act, or thought, or word, which raises us above
ourselves—which makes us think less of ourselves and more of others, which
has taught us of something higher and truer than we have in our own hearts.
Dean Stanley.
Loving God is but letting
God love us,—giving welcome, that is, to God's love, knowing and believing
the love God hath for us.... Horace Bushnell.
The measure of the love
of God is to love without measure. Saint Francis de Sales, 1567-1622.
Happiness is the only possible
good, and all that tends to the happiness of man is right, and is of value.
All that tends to develop the bodies and minds of men; all that gives us
better houses, better clothes, better food, better pictures, grander music,
better heads, better hearts; all that renders us more intellectual and
more loving, nearer just; that makes us better husbands and wives, better
children, better citizens—all these things combined produce what I call
Progress. Robert Ingersoll.
We must breathe more, laugh
more and love more. Elbert Hubbard.
Paths of kindness are paved
with happiness. Elbert Hubbard.
Love for its own sake, with
honesty and truth for counsel and guide, is the highest good. It is the
supreme endowment of God. And under these conditions he who loves most
is most blessed. Elbert Hubbard.
True life lies in laughter,
love and work. Elbert Hubbard.
The best preparation for
good work tomorrow is to do good work today; the best preparation for life
is the hereafter is to live now. Elbert Hubbard.
Success is the result of
mental attitude, and the right mental attitude will bring success in everything
you undertake. Elbert Hubbard.
He who imparts cheerfulness
is adding to the wealth of the world. Elbert Hubbard.
Love is all. I say to you
that man has not sufficient imagination to exaggerate the importance of
love. Elbert Hubbard.
To benefit others you must
be reasonably happy: there must be animation through useful activity, good-cheer,
kindness and health—health of mind and health of body. Elbert Hubbard.
Cheeriness is a thing to
be more profoundly grateful for than all that genius ever inspired or talent
ever accomplished. Next best to natural, spontaneous cheeriness is deliberate,
intended and persistent cheeriness, which we can create, can cultivate,
and can so foster and cherish that after a few years the world will never
suspect that it was not a hereditary gift. Helen Hunt Jackson.
The best way to secure a
happy home is to be happy yourself. One really happy person is enough to
create a delightful, pervasive atmosphere of happiness. To have a happy
home, set the example of self-sacrifice, love, service, of ministering
rather than expecting to be ministered unto—and see what comes of it! The
Congregationalist.
There are persons so radiant,
so genial, so kind, so pleasure-bearing, that you instinctively feel in
their presence that they do you good, whose coming into a room is like
bringing a lamp there. Henry Ward Beecher.
Mirth is God's medicine.
Everybody ought to bathe in it. ... Blessed is he who has a sense of the
humorous. He has that which is worth more than money. Henry Ward Beecher.
The best fence against care
is a ha! ha! Wherefore take care to have one all round you wherever you
can. Tom Hood.
Pleasure comes of its own
accord in the right way of life, and the simplest, the cheapest, and the
most inevitable pleasures are the best. Carl Hilty.
If we look out for our duties,
pleasures like flowers will grow up around our feet. Thomas K. Beecher.
Have you ever had your day
suddenly turn sunshiny because of a cheerful word? Have you ever wondered
if this could be the same world, because someone had been unexpectedly
kind to you? You can make to-day the same for somebody. It is only a question
of a little imagination, a little time and trouble. Think now, "What can
I do to-day to make someone happy?" Maltbie D. Babcock.
There is only one way to
be happy and that is to make somebody else so. ... When you rise in the
morning form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow-creature.
Sidney Smith.
If each one of us can say:
"I am going to make at least part of my purpose in living to make this
world a little better and happier place for others, to bring all the joy
I can into others' lives who need it much, to sympathize with some one
outside my own social circle, and try and enter into his life a little,
and try to see if I cannot, by friendly interest, help this man I have
shunned"; if each one of us can say that, he has got the exact point of
this beautiful story [of Jesus and Zaccheus]. Frederick Lynch.
As jewels are treasured
in the casket, to be brought forth on great occasions, so should we preserve
the remembrance of our joys, and keep them for seasons when special consolations
are wanted to cheer the soul. James Kirkpatrick.
Every good thought, word,
or deed is a movement heavenward.... Rev. Everett S. Stackpole, D.D.
Flowers are the alphabet
of angels, whereby they write on the hills and fields mysterious truths.
Benjamin Franklin.
There is in man a higher
than love of happiness; he can do without happiness, and instead thereof
find blessedness! Thomas Carlyle.
If we love God, the reward
promised us is nothing less than the sight of God Himself, face to face;
not transiently, not as a glorious flash of light, but an abiding vision,
a glory and a gladness, a marvelous rapture of the will, forevermore. Think
how such a reward transcends all the expectations, all the possibilities
even, of our nature! How God must love us, and how, too, He must love our
love, to have prepared for us such joys as these, which eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, nor man's heart conceived! F. W. Fuller.
Joy is a prize unbought,
and is freest, purest in its flow, when it comes unsought. No getting into
Heaven, as a place, will compass it. You must carry it with you, else it
is not there. You must have it in you, as the music of a well-ordered soul,
the fire of a holy purpose, the welling up out of the central depths of
eternal springs that hide the waters there. Horace Bushnell.
Loving God is but letting
God love us,—giving welcome, that is, to God's love, knowing and believing
the love God hath for us.... Horace Bushnell.
Of all mortal joys, the
joy of action is the most intense; indeed, there is no other joy. And the
higher the action, the intenser the joy. Life is blessedness. The life
of the lower nature we call pleasure,—the blessedness of the bird and the
butterfly. The life of the social nature we call happiness,—the blessedness
of the fortunate and the successful. The life of the spiritual nature,—activity
in usefulness, care, duty,—we call joy. O. B. Frothingham.
If you trust in God and
yourself, you can surmount every obstacle. Prince Bismarck.
Love, faith, and obedience
are sides of the same prism. George MacDonald.
For the earth and all its beauty,
The sky and all its light,—
For the dim and soothing shadows
That rest the dazzled sight,—
For unfading fields and prairies
Where sense in vain has trod,—
For Thy world's exhaustless beauty
I thank Thee, O my God.
—Lucy Larcom.
On no country have
the charms of nature been more prodigally lavished, than upon America.
Behold her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, bright
with aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with fertility; her tremendous
cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving
with spontaneous verdure; her broad, deep rivers, rolling in sullen silence
to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its
magnificence; and her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and
glorious sunshine! Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook, 1856.
There is nothing purer than
honesty; nothing sweeter than charity; nothing warmer than love; nothing
richer than wisdom; nothing brighter than virtue; nothing more steadfast
than faith. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook, 1856.
A good moral character,
and a sound education, with habits of industry, qualify men for eminent
usefulness. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook, 1856.
The splendor of the firmament,
the verdure of the earth, the fragrance of the flowers, and the music of
the birds, conspire to elevate the affections, and captivate the heart.
Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook, 1856.
Beauty is like the flower
of spring; virtue is like the stars of heaven. Salem Town and Nelson M.
Holbrook, 1856.
My Country.—Anon.
[Corrected]
I love my country's pine-clad hills,
Her thousand bright and gushing rills,
Her sunshine and her
storms;
Her rough and rugged rocks that rear
Their hoary heads high in the air,
In wild, fantastic
forms.
I love her rivers deep and wide,
Those mighty streams that seaward glide,
To seek the ocean's
breast;
Her smiling fields, her pleasant vales,
Her shady dells, her flowery dales,—
Abodes of peaceful
rest.
I love her forests, dark and lone,
For there the wild bird's merry tone
I hear from morn till
night;
And lovelier flowers are there, I ween,
Than e'er in Eastern lands were seen
In varied colors bright.
Her forests and her valleys fair,
Her flowers that scent the morning air,
All have their charms
for me;—
But more I love my country's name,
These words that echo deathless fame—
The Land of Liberty.
All the oriental luster
of the richest gems, all the enchanting beauties of exterior shape, the
exquisite of all forms, the loveliness of color, the harmony of sounds,
the heat and brightness of the enlivening sun, the heroic virtue of the
bravest minds, with the purity and quickness of the highest intellect,
are emanations from the Supreme Deity. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook,
1856.
A well-spent youth is the
only sure foundation of a happy old age. Bigland, Advantages of a Well-Cultivated
Mind.
Gentle
Words
More precious than the honeyed dew,
From flowers distilled of saffron hue,
Of rosy tint, or azure blue,
Are gentle words.
More joyous than the merry thrill,
When warbling sounds the woodlands fill,
Or parting streamlet, brook, or rill,
Are gentle words.
Sweeter than music's hallowed strains,
To cheer old age when memory wanes,
And lull to rest its aches and pains,
Are gentle words.
Holy as friendship's gifted name,
Burning with bright unquivering flame,
That on through time remains the same,
Are gentle words.
Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook, 1856.
We cannot honor our country
with a reverence too deep; we cannot love her with an affection too fervent;
we cannot serve her with an energy of purpose too steadfast, nor a zeal
too enthusiastic. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook.
Nature has laid out all
her art in beautifying the face. She has touched it with vermilion; planted
in it a double row of ivory; made it the seat of smiles and blushes; lighted
it up, and enlivened it with the brightness of the eyes; hung it, on each
side, with curious organs of sense; given it airs and graces that cannot
be described; and surrounded it with such a flowing shade of hair as sets
all its beauties in the most agreeable light. Salem Town and Nelson M.
Holbrook.
We should estimate a man's
character more by his goodness, than by his wealth. Salem Town and Nelson
M. Holbrook.
Pleasure is a shadow; wealth
is vanity; and power is a pageant: but knowledge is intrinsic enjoyment,
perennial fame, unlimited space, and infinite duration. In the performance
of its sacred office, it fears no danger, spares no expense, omits no exertion.
It scales the mountain, looks into the volcano, dives into the ocean, perforates
the earth, wings its flight into the skies, encircles the globe, explores
sea and land, contemplates the distant, examines the minute, comprehends
the great, and ascends the sublime. No place, too remote for its grasp,
no heavens, too exalted for its touch. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook.
Gayety
and Cheerfulness
O this is the beautiful month of May,
The season of birds
and of flowers!
The young and the lovely are out and away,
‘Mid the up-springing grass and the blossoms, at
play;
And many a heart will be happy to-day,
In this beautiful
region of ours.
Sweet April, the frail, the capriciously bright,
Hath passed like the
lovely away;
Yet we mourn not her absence, for swift at her flight
Sprang forth, her young sister, the angel of light;
And fair as a sunbeam that dazzles the sight,
Is beautiful, beautiful
May.
What scenes of delight, what sweet visions she brings,
Of freshness, of gladness,
and mirth,
Of fair sunny glades, where the buttercup springs,
Of cool, gushing fountains, of rose-tinted wings,
Of birds, bees, and blossoms, all beautiful things,
Whose brightness rejoices
the earth!
How fair is the landscape! o'er hill-top and glade,
What swift-varying
colors are unrolled!
The shadows now sunshine, the sunshine now shade,
Their light-shifting hues for the green earth have
made
A garment resplendent with dew-gems o'erlaid,
A light-woven tissue
of gold.
These brighten the landscape, and softly unroll
Their splendors by land
and by sea;
They steal o'er the heart with a magic control,
That lightens the bosom and freshens the soul;
O this is the charm that enhances the whole,
And makes them so
lovely to me.
Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook.
Creation is a display of
supreme goodness, no less than of wisdom and power. How many clear marks
of benevolent intention appear everywhere around us! What a profusion of
beauty and ornament is poured forth on the face of nature! What a magnificent
spectacle presented to the view of man! What supply contrived for his wants!
What a variety of objects set before him to gratify his senses, to employ
his understanding, to entertain his imagination, to cheer and gladden his
heart! Indeed, the very existence of the universe is a standing memorial
of the goodness of the Creator. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook.
Night kissed the young rose,
and it bent softly to sleep. The stars, shrined in pure dew-drops which
hung upon its blushing bosom, watched its sweet slumbers. Morning came
with her dancing breezes, and they whispered to the young rose, and it
awoke, joyous and smiling. Lightly it danced to and fro in all the loveliness
of health and youthful innocence.
Then came the ardent sun-god
sweeping from the east, and he smote the young rose with his golden shaft,
and it fainted. Deserted and almost heart-broken, it dropped to the dust
in its loneliness.
Now the gentle breeze, who
had been gamboling over the sea, pushing on the light bark, sweeping over
hill and dale, by the neat cottage and the still brook, turning the old
mill, fanning the fevered brow of disease, and tossing the curl of innocent
childhood, came tripping along on her errands of mercy and love; and, when
she saw the young rose, she hastened to kiss it, and fondly bathed its
forehead in cool, refreshing showers, and the young rose revived, looked
up and smiled, and flung out its ruddy arms as if in gratitude to embrace
the kind breeze; but she hurried quickly away; her generous task was performed;
yet not without reward, for she soon perceived that a delicious fragrance
had been poured on her wings by the grateful rose; and the kind breeze
was glad in her heart, and went away singing through the trees.
Thus, true charity, like
the breeze which gathers a fragrance from the humble flower it refreshes,
unconsciously reaps a reward in the performance of its offices of kindness
and love, which steals through the heart like a rich perfume. Salem Town
and Nelson M. Holbrook.
Happiness, my son, has not
its seat in honor, pleasure, or riches. To be happy is in the power of
every individual; to all, our beneficent Creator has given wisely; and
those only who receive what he gives with thankful hearts, and are content,
are happy. Contentment is the substance, and happiness her shadow; those
who possess the one, have the other. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook.
Religion is the daughter
of heaven, parent of our virtues, and source of all true felicity; she
alone giveth peace and contentment, divests the heart of anxious cares,
burst on the mind a flood of joy, and sheds unmingled and perpetual sunshine
in the pious heart. By her the spirits of darkness are banished from the
earth, and angelic ministers of grace thicken, unseen, the regions of mortality.
She promotes love and good-will among men, lifts up the head that hangs
down, heals the wounded spirit, dissipates the gloom of sorrow, sweetens
the cup of affliction, blunts the sting of death, and wherever seen, felt,
and enjoyed, breathes around her an everlasting spring, and attunes the
heart and voice to mingle with the hosts of heaven, in that last and sweetest
anthem that ever mortals or immortals sung. Salem Town and Nelson M. Holbrook.
"The greatest thing," says
some one, "a man can do for his Heavenly Father is to be kind to some of
His other children." I wonder how it is we are not all kinder than we are.
How much the world needs it! How easily it is done! How instantaneously
it acts! How infallibly it is remembered! How superabundantly it pays itself
back, for there is no debtor in the world so honorable, so superbly honorable,
as Love. Henry Drummond.
"To obtain eternal life,
all I am to do is reduced to one world only, and that is ‘love." This is
the first and great command, which comprehends all others. The love of
God is a grace rather felt than defined. It is the general tendency and
inclination of the whole man, of all his heart and soul and strength, of
all his powers and affections, and of the utmost strength of them all,
to God as his chief and only and perfect and infinite good." Ken.
Oh! that men would accept
the testimony of Christ touching the blessedness of giving! He who sacrifices
most, loves most; and he who loves most, is most blessed. Love and sacrifice
are related to each other like seed and fruit; each produces the other.
The seed of sacrifice brings forth the fragrant fruit of love, and love
always has in its heart the seeds of new sacrifice. (No Author Given.)
Every earnest prayer that
is breathed, every cross that is carried, every trial that is well endured,
every good work for his fellow-man lovingly done, ever little act that
is conscientiously performed for Christ's glory helps to make the Christian
character beautiful, and to load its broad boughs with "apples of gold"
for God's "baskets of silver." T. L. Cuyler, D.D.
I do not know when I have
had happier times in my soul, than when I have been sitting at work, with
nothing before me but a candle and a white cloth, and hearing no sound
but that of my own breath, with God in my soul and heaven in my eye. I
rejoice in being exactly what I am,—a creature capable of loving God, and
who, as long as God lives, must be happy. I get up and look out of the
window and gaze at the moon and start and think myself one of the happiest
beings in the universe. A Poor Methodist Woman, 18th Century.
Eternity will be one glorious
morning, with the sun ever climbing higher and higher; one blessed spring-time,
and yet richer summer—every plant in full flower, but every flower the
bud of a lovelier.
Rev. W. H. Milburn.
What a desolate place would
be this world without a flower! It would be a face without a smile,—a feast
without a welcome! Are not flowers the stars of the earth? and are not
our stars the flowers of heaven? Rev. W. H. Milburn.
The glory of the country
is in its homes, which contain the true elements of national vitality,
and are the embodied type of heaven. Rev. W. H. Milburn.
To walk with the breeze
upon one's brow, to trample the level grass exuberant with freshness, to
climb upon the mountain, to follow through the meadows some thread of water
gliding under rushes and water-plants,—I give you my word for it, there
is happiness in this. At this contact with healthy and natural things,
the follies of the world drop off as drop the dead leaves when the spring
spa rises and the young leaves put forth. Rev. W. H. Milburn.
The very soul seems to be
refreshed on the bare recollection of the pleasure which the senses receive
in contemplating, on a fine vernal morning, the charms of the pink, the
violet, the rose, the honey-suckle, the hyacinth, the tulip, and a thousand
other flowers, in every variety of figure, scent, and hue; for Nature is
no less remarkable for the accuracy and beauty of her works than for variety
and profusion. Rev. W. H. Milburn.
Nothing is better able to
gratify the inherent passion of novelty than a garden; for Nature is always
renewing her variegated appearance. She is infinite in her productions,
and the life of man may come to its close before he has seen half the pictures
which she is able to display. Rev. W. H. Milburn.
What shall we say of flowers—those
flaming banners of the vegetable world, which march in such various and
splendid triumph before the coming of its fruits? Rev. W. H. Milburn.
The poems which have lingered
in the ear for generations have been clear-cut crystals, flashing with
varied brightness—ideas set in gold of cunning workmanship. Rev. W. H.
Milburn.
Every girl is a lover of
beauty. Beautiful homes, beautiful furnishings, beautiful flowers, beautiful
fruits, beautiful faces—anything wherein beauty is found, there will be
found girls to admire it. Mabel Hale.
Everywhere purity and cleanness
are admired and appreciated. Pure air, pure water, pure food, pure associations,
pure ideals, pure aspirations—all are needed for perfect living. Mabel
Hale.
A thing of beauty is a rose
in full bloom. What a pleasure to hold in the hand a perfect rose andmire
its soft, velvety petals, to smell of its rich fragrance, and to feast
upon its beauty of coloring! One would be tempted to say, "In this Nature
has done her best." But Nature, and the God of Nature, gives us many beautiful
and glorious things. Mabel Hale.
There is no work so good
for any woman as making a good, true home for somebody. Every truly beautiful
character is its best at home. Mabel Hale.
Of all unseen things, the
most radiant, the most beautiful, the most divine, is character. Henry
Drummond.
"Love is the fulfilling
of the Law." It is the rule for fulfilling all rules, the new commandment
for keeping the old commandments, Christ's one secret of the Christian
life. Henry Drummond.
I wonder why it is we are
not all kinder than we are? How much the world needs it! How easily it
is done! How instantaneously it acts! How infallibly it is remembered!
How superabundantly it pays itself back! For there is no debtor in the
world so honorable, so superbly honorable, as Love. Henry Drummond.
Patience, kindness, generosity,
humility, courtesy, unselfishness, good-temper, guilelessness, sincerity,—these
make up the supreme gift, the stature of the perfect man. Henry Drummond.
There is a difference between
trying to please and giving pleasure. Give pleasure. Lose no chance of
giving pleasure. For that is the ceaseless and anonymous triumph of a truly
loving spirit. Henry Drummond.
It is a good thing to think;
it is a better thing to work. It is a better thing to do good. Henry Drummond.
The beauty of the country
surpasses all the grandeur of the city. In the city there are gardens cultivated
with floral skill; but they are not half so lovely even as the fields,
whose swelling gain waves, and nods, and trembles to the whisking wind.
Rev. W. H. Milburn.
Little Things
Isaac Watts
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make this earth an Eden
Like the heaven above.
Happy Thought
The world is so full of a number of things
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.
(No Author Given)
Love turns to the brightest
side of things, and its face is ever directed towards happiness. It sees
'the glory in the grass, the sunshine on the flower.' It encourages happy
thoughts, and lives in an
atmosphere of cheerfulness. It costs nothing, and yet is invaluable;
for it blesses its possessor, and
grows up in abundant happiness in the bosoms of others. Samuel Smiles.
All Things Bright
(Cecil Frances Alexander, 1823-1895)
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden—
He made them every one.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
We gather every day.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
(The following quotations are from The Imperial Galaxy of Poetry
and Art, 1890)
The Beauty of Youth
Theodore Parker
How beautiful is youth,—early
manhood, early womanhood,—how wonderfully fair! What freshness of life,
cleanness of blood, purity of breath! What hopes! There is nothing too
much for the young maid or man to put into their dream, and in their prayer
to hope to put in their day. O, young men and women! there is no picture
of ideal excellence of manhood and womanhood that I ever draw that seems
too high, too beautiful for young hearts.
I love to look on these
young faces, and see the firstlings of a young man's beard, and the maidenly
bloom brushing over the girl's fair cheek. I love to see the pure eyes
beaming with joy and goodness, to see the unconscious joy of such young
souls, impatient of restraint, and long for the heaven which we fashion
here.
So have I seen in early
May, among the New England hills, the morning springing in the sky, and
gradually thinning out the stars that hedge about the cradle of day; and
all cool and fresh and lustrous came the morning light, and a few birds
commenced their songs, prophets of very many more; and ere the sun was
fairly up, you saw the pinky buds upon the apple trees, and scented the
violets in the morning air, and thought of what a fresh and lordly day
was coming up the eastern sky.
Love's sweetest meanings
are unspoken: the full heart knows no rhetoric of words. Bovee.
Love has a thousand modes
and forms, all of which may be consistent with reality and truth. It may
come like the burst of morning light, kindling the whole soul into new
life and radiance; it may grow inaudibly and unknown, until its roots are
found to be through and through the heart, entwined in its every fibre;
it is unreal and false only when it is a name for some form of selfishness.
Peter Bayne.
The finest fruit earth holds
up to its maker is a finished man. Humboldt.
Beauty of Light.
Harriet Farley
Beautiful to the believer
is every work of Nature. To him there is a loveliness and meaning in the
humblest herb, and smallest insect; and he knows that, whenever beauty
meets the eye, then should instruction go to the heart.
But the object which more
than all others combines both beauty and instruction, is LIGHT. Beautiful
is light when it shines from the dazzling sun, and beautiful when it beams
from the milder moon; beautiful when it flashes from some dark thunder-cloud,
and beautiful when it twinkles from myriads of evening stars. Beautiful
is it when concentrated in noonday clouds, and beautiful when, with scarlet
and purple, it curtains the sunset sky. Beautiful is it in the north, when
its varying colors stream upward in the borealis; and beautiful in the
south, when it reddens the midnight sky from seas of prairie fire.
Beautiful is light when
it crests the ocean billow, and beautiful when it dances on the rippling
streamlet; beautiful when it lies like a silvery robe on the placid lake,
and beautiful when it turns the foaming surge to fretted gold. Beautiful
is light when it flashes from the maiden's eye, and beautiful when it sparkles
from the diamond on her hand.
Beautiful are the varying
hues of light, as they flit and change on the water bubble, and beautiful
are they when marshalled in the rainbow, Beautiful is the light which glistens
from millions of points and pinnacles in arctic glaciers, and beautiful
when it rests like a glorious crown on Alpine mountains; and beautiful
also is light, when it breaks through forest boughs, and holds wild play
with the flitting shadow.
Beautiful are the coruscations
of light in the laboratory of the chemist, and beautiful is the fireside
light when friends around it meet in that dearest of all earth's spots,
in "home sweet home." Beautiful is light to the poor man, when it comes
through the little lattice to brighten his humble cot, and beautiful to
the prince, when it streams through gilded casements to illuminate his
palace.
Beautiful is the light of
morn to the Persian worshipper, and beautiful is it after the night-storm
to the shipwrecked mariner. Beautiful is it to the child of guilt or affliction,
to whom the night can bring no quiet rest; and beautiful, after their undisturbed
sleep, is it to all beasts, birds, and insects, whose morning voices unite
in one loud thanksgiving for the light.
Beautiful is light to the
dungeon prisoner, when, after years of darkened life, he stands beneath
the sun's glad beams; and beautiful is it to the invalid, when from the
couch of sickness he emerges into the bright ocean above and round him,
and from the depths of his grateful heart he blesses God for the light.
Beautiful also is light
to the timid child, when, after awakening in darkness, his screams of terror
have brought some taper, and, as though he knew that his guardian angel
had come to watch his slumbers, he lays his cheek upon his little hand,
even shuts his eye upon the wished-for object and sweetly sleeps—for it
is light.
Beautiful is light when
it paints the tulip with gold, the rose with crimson, and the grass-grown
earth with living green. Yes, beautiful is every light of morn, of eve,
of midnight, and of noon; and grateful for all beauty should we be to Him
who is the "Father of lights."
(From Eugene Sinclair, A Gift For You of Prose and Poetic Gems,
circa 1880)
(The following three poems are from Annette Wynne, For Days
And Days, 1919)
If Love Were Mine
Annette Wynne
If love were mine, if love were mine,
I know what I would do,
I'd take it, spare it,
Give it, share it,
Lend it, spend it, too.
If beauty I could claim for mine,
To hold, to cherish, too,
I'd strive to spread it,
Pour it, shed it,
Till it flowed the whole world through.
But toil—just common toil—is mine;
And so what I shall do
Is strive to take it,
Carve it, make it,
Into love and beauty, too.
(p. 15)
June's Picture
Annette Wynne
Let me paint June's picture—first I take some gold,
Fill the picture full of sun, all that it can hold;
Save some for the butterflies, darting all around,
And some more for buttercups here upon the ground;
Take a lot of baby-blue—this—to make the sky,
With a lot of downy white—soft clouds floating by;
Cover all the ground with green, hang it from the trees,
Sprinkle it with shiny white, neatly as you please;
So—a million daisies spring up everywhere,
Surely you can see now that is in the air!
Here's a thread of silver—that's a little brook
To hide in dainty places where only children look.
Next comes something—guess—it grows
Among green hedges—it's a rose!
Brown for a bird to sing a song,
Brown for a road to walk along.
Than add some happy children to the fields and flowers and skies,
And so you have June's picture here before your eyes.
(pp. 164-165)
God's Garden
Annette Wynne
God's garden stretches far and wide,
With trees and birds on every side,
With sunshine all the summer day
So people may walk out and play,
And lanterns hanging through the night
To keep the pathways always bright;
God's garden stretches near and far—
From my gate to the evening star.
(p. 166)
(The following poem is from Sara Teasdale, Love Songs, 1918)
BARTER
Sara Teasdale
Life has loveliness to sell—
All beautiful and splendid thing,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Climbing fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonders like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell—
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirits's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been or could be.
(The following poem is from Margery Gordon and Marie B. King, Verse
of Our Day, 1923)
SONG
Dana Burnet
Love's on the highroad,
Love's on the byroad—
Love's on the meadow,
And Love's in the mart!
And down every byway
Where I've taken my way
I've met Love a-smiling—for
Love's in my heart.
(The following poem is from Florence Earle Coates, Poems, 1916)
FOR JOY
Florence Earle Coates
For each and every joyful thing,
For twilight swallows on the wing,
For all that nest and all that sing,—
For fountains cool that laugh and leap,
For rivers running to the deep,
For happy, care-forgetting sleep,—
For stars that pierce the sombre dark,
For morn, awaking to the lark,
For life new-stirring ‘neath the bark,—
For sunshine and the blessed rain,
For budding grove and blossomy lane,
For the sweet silence of the plain,—
For beauty spring from the sod,
For every step by beauty trod,—
For each dear gift of joy, thank God!
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