John Greenleaf Whittier

“The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts.”

“God's colors all are fast.”

“Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young.”

“Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; who sows a field, or trains a flower, or plants a tree, is more than all.”

“I'll lift you and you lift me, and we'll both ascend together.”

“From the death of the old the new proceeds, and the life of truth from the death of creeds.”

“When faith is lost, when honor dies, the man is dead.”

“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”

“Beauty seen is never lost, God's colors all are fast.”

“One brave deed makes no hero.”

“Before me, even as behind, God is, and all is well.”

“As a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the truth.”

“All the windows of my heart I open to the day.”

“It is no use trying to sum people up. One must follow hints, not exactly what is said, nor yet entirely what is done.”

“The smile of God is victory.”

“You don't always win your battles, but it's good to know you fought.”

“So all night long the storm roared on:The morning broke without a sun;In tiny spherule traced with linesOf Nature’s geometric signs,In starry flake, and pellicle,All day the hoary meteor fell;And, when the second morning shone,We looked upon a world unknown,On nothing we could call our own.Around the glistening wonder bentThe blue walls of the firmament,No cloud above, no earth below,—A universe of sky and snow!”

“the joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you”

“Peace hath higher tests of manhood, than battle ever knew.”

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.”