Top 15 Henry van Dyke Quotes

Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.

As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.

Death comes in its own time, in its own way.
Death is as unique as the individual experiencing it.

Time Is...
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice,
But for those who love,
Time is Eternity. (Music and Other Poems, 1904)

Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.

The lintel low enough to keep out pomp and pride:
The threshold high enough to turn deceit aside.

Oh, come as comes the morn. Serene and strong and full of faith, America, arise, With steady hope and mighty help to join thy brave Allies. O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire, Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom’s altar-fire: For thou must suffer, thou must fight, until the warlords cease, And all the peoples lift their heads in liberty and peace.

Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhattan Bay, The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away: Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy hand To spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land.

Oh, it’s home again, and home again, America for me!
I want a ship that’s westward bound to plow the rolling sea,
To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

I know that Europe’s wonderful, yet something seems to lack;
The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.

Oh, London is a man’s town, there’s power in the air;
And Paris is a woman’s town, with flowers in her hair;
And it’s sweet to dream in Venice, and it’s great to study Rome;
But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.

No amount of energy will take the place of thought.

The simple life which blandly ignores all care and conflict, soon becomes flabby and invertebrate, sentimental and gelatinous.

Christ never asks us to give up merely for the sake of giving up, but always in order to win something better.

How often a man has cause to return thanks for the enthusiasms of his friends! They are the little fountains that run down from the hills to refresh the mental desert of the despondent.