The life of man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams but in active charity and in willing service. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Into each life some rain must fall.

Art is the child of Nature; yes,
Her darling child, in whom we trace
The features of the mother's face,
Her aspect and her attitude,
All her majestic loveliness
Chastened and softened and subdued
Into a more attractive grace,
And with a human sense imbued.
He is the greatest artist, then,
Whether of pencil or of pen,
Who follows Nature.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
"Life is but an empty dream!" For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.