Henry Van Dyke Quotes about Life

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.

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.

Life is an arrow, therefore you must know What mark to aim at, how to use the bow-- Then draw it to the head and let it go!

Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.

There is only one way to get ready for immortality, and that is to love this life and live it as bravely and faithfully and cheerfully as we can.

Love that leads life upward is the noblest and the best.

There are many kinds of love, as many kinds of light, And every kind of love makes a glory in the night. There is love that stirs the heart, and love that gives it rest, But the love that leads life upward is the noblest and the best.

If all the skies were sunshine Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them The cooling splash of rain. If all the world were music, Our hearts would often long For one sweet strain of silence, To break the endless song If life were always merry, Our souls would seek relief, And rest from weary laughter In the quiet arms of grief.

Hours fly, Flowers die: New days, New ways: Pass by! Love stays.

I shall grow old, but never lose life's zest, because the road's last turn will be the best.

Like water spilt upon the ground--alas, Our little lives flow swiftly on and pass; Yet may they bring rich harvests and green grass!

Memory is a capricious and arbitrary creature. You never can tell what pebble she will pick up from the shore of life to keep among her treasures, or what inconspicuous flower of the field she will preserve as the symbol of "thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." . . . And yet I do not doubt that the most Important things are always the best remembered.

No amount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.

How fascinating is death, the extinction of life. One moment here and the next gone. The light put out and only the empty bag of the body left.