“Poetry teaches the enormous force of a few words, and, in proportion to the inspiration, checks loquacity. Parnassus (1874) Preface”
#inspiration
20 quotes
“A mollusk is a cheap edition [of man] with a suppression of the costlier illustrations, designed for dingy circulation, for shelving in an oyster”
“Only the great generalizations survive. The sharp words of the Declaration of Independence, lampooned then and since as 'glittering generalities,' have turned out blazing ubiquities that will burn forever and ever. From a lecture on Books given in the Fraternity Course in Boston in 1864; the quoted phrase 'glittering generalities' had been used by Rufus Choate to describe the declaration of the rights of man in the Preamble to the Constitution”
“The clergy are as like as peas. "The Preacher", in The Index: A Weekly Paper (Feb. 5, 1880) pp. 62”
“Always put the best interpretation on a tenet. Why not on Christianity, wholesome, sweet, and poetic? It is the record of a pure and holy soul, humble, absolutely disinterested, a trutn”
“If the colleges were better, if they ... had the power of imparting valuable thought, creative principles, truths which become powers, thoughts which become talents,”
“God may consent, but not forever.”
“Walter Savage Landor”
“I fancy I need more than another to speak (rather than write), with such a formidable tendency to the lapidary style. I build my house of boulders. Letter to Thomas Carlyle”
“He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses. The Method of Nature (1841), p. 25”
“There are certain artists who belong to all the people, everywhere, all the time. The list of singers, musicians, and poets must include David the harpist from the Old Testament, Aesop the Storyteller, Omar Khayyam the Tent Maker, Shakespeare the Bard of Avon, Louis Armstrong the genius of New Orleans, Om Kalsoum the soul of Egypt, Frank Sinatra , Mahalia Jackson , Dizzy Gillespie , Ray Charles ... Celia Cruz ...All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us all that we are more alike than we are unalike. Maya Angelou Letter to My Daughter”
“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within”
“I am capable of what every other human is capable of. This is one of the great lessons of war and life . As quoted in Goal Mapping : How to Turn Your Dreams into Realities (2006) by Brian Mayne, p. 84”
“There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing. As quoted in The Truth in Words (2005) by Neal Zero”
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry , but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh , eat , worry , and die , it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends . Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993) p. 12.”
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage. As quoted in Diversity : Leaders Not Labels (2006) by Stedman Graham, p. 224”
“Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind , true, merciful , generous , or honest . As quoted in USA Today”
“A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense . No truth seems true. A simple morning's greeting and response appear loaded with innuendo and fraught with implications. ... Each nicety becomes more sterile and each withdrawal more permanent. Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), chapter 5.”
“… There is an African saying which is:”
“We delight in the beauty of butterfly, rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty*”