John Greenleaf Whittier Quotes

The Beauty which old Greece or Rome
Sung, painted, wrought, lies close at home.

Each crisis brings its word and deed.

God blesses still the generous thought,
And still the fitting word He speeds,
And Truth, at His requiring taught,
He quickens into deeds.

Beauty seen is never lost.

The Night is Mother of the Day,
The Winter of the Spring,
And ever upon old Decay
The greenest mosses cling.

Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young.

Better heresy of doctrine than heresy of heart.

We lack but open eye and ear
To find the Orient's marvels here;
The still small voice in autumn's hush,
Yon maple wood the burning bush.

Yet sometimes glimpses on my sight,
Through present wrong the eternal right;
And, step by step, since time began,
I see the steady gain of man;

Again the shadow moveth o'er
The dial-plate of time.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.

The hope of all who suffer,
The dread of all who wrong.

Perish with him the folly that seeks through evil good.

Give lettered pomp to teeth of Time,
So "Bonnie Doon" but tarry;
Blot out the epic’s stately rhyme,
But spare his "Highland Mary!"

Making their lives a prayer.