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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Quotes - Page 20

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The low desire, the base design That makes another's virtues less.

The low desire, the base design That makes another's virtues less.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Design, Desire, Virtue
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1856). “Poetical Works of H. W. Longfellow ... Illustrated with ... engravings on wood from designs by J. E. Benham, Birket Foster, etc”, p.232

Youth wrenches the sceptre from old age, and sets the crown on its own head before it is entitled to it.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Age, Crowns, Youth
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1888). “Longfellow's Days: The Longfellow Prose Birthday Book : Extracts from the Journals and Letters of H. W. Longfellow”

But the nearer the dawn the darker the night, And by going wrong all things come right. Things have been mended that were worse, and the the worse, the nearer they are to mend.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Night, Optimism, Dawn
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Illustrated)”, p.791, Delphi Classics

For the structure that we raise, Time is with materials filled; Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Art, Block, Yesterday
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1871). “The Poetical Works”, p.134

The sun is set; and in his latest beams Yon little cloud of ashen gray and gold, Slowly upon the amber air unrolled, The falling mantle of the Prophet seems.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Fall, Twilight, Clouds
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (2012). “My Complete Poetical Works (Annotated Edition)”, p.845, Jazzybee Verlag

The grave itself is but a covered bridge, Leading from light to light, through a brief darkness!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Death, Grieving, Light
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1861). “The poetical works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, including his translations and notes”, p.217

I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls, The burial-ground God's-Acre.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Phrases, Acres, Ancient
'God's-Acre' (1841)

Each new epoch in life seems an encounter. There is a tussle and a cloud of dust, and we come out of it triumphant or crest-fallen, according as we have borne ourselves.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Life, Clouds, Dust
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1888). “Longfellow's Days: The Longfellow Prose Birthday Book : Extracts from the Journals and Letters of H. W. Longfellow”

I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Sweet, Men, Cities
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1866). “The Prose Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow”, p.311

And the wind plays on those great sonorous harps, the shrouds and masts of ships.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Wind, Play, Ships
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1851). “The prose works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow”, p.30

No man is so poor as that. As well might the mountain streamlets say they have nothing worth giving to the sea, because they are not rivers. Give what you have. To some one, it may be better than you dare to think.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Thinking, Men, Sea
"The Works of Henry W. Longfellow".

Some feelings are quite untranslatable; no language has yet been found for them. They gleam upon us beautifully through the dim twilight of fancy, and yet when we bring them close to us, and hold them up to the light of reason, lose their beauty all at once, as glow worms which gleam with such a spiritual light in the shadows of evening, when brought in where the candles are lighted, are found to be only worms like so many others.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Spiritual, Twilight, Feelings
"Hyperion" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1853.

In the elder days of art Builders wrought with greatest care Each minute and unseen part, For the Gods are everywhere

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Art, Unseen, Care
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1868). “Poems”, p.327

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; It rains, and the wind is never weary; The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, But at every gust the dead leaves fall, And the day is dark and dreary. My life is cold, and dark, and dreary; It rains, and the wind is never weary; My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past, But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, And the days are dark and dreary. Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Hope, Wall, Fall
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (2012). “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Everyman's Poetry”, p.46, Hachette UK

Fear is the virtue of slaves; but the heart that loveth is willing.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Heart, Slave, Virtue
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1856). “Voices of the night. Ballads and other poems. Poems on slavery. The Spanish student. The belfry of Bruges and other poems. Evangeline. The seaside and the fireside”, p.96

The little I have seen of the world teaches me to look upon the errors of others in sorrow, not in anger. When I take the history of one poor heart that has sinned and suffered, and represent to myself the struggles and temptations it has passed through, the brief pulsations of joy, the feverish inquietude of hope and fear, the pressure of want, the desertion of friends, I would fain leave the erring soul of my fellow-man with Him from whose hand it came.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Struggle, Heart, Men

Let him not boast who puts his armor on as he who puts it off, the battle done.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
War, Battle, Done
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1988). “Selected Poems”, p.277, Penguin

Build today, then strong and sure, With a firm and ample base; And ascending and secure. Shall tomorrow find its place.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Strong, Ascending, Today
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Illustrated)”, p.398, Delphi Classics

The twilight that surrounds the border-land of old romance.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Twilight, Land, Romance
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867). “The Poetical Works of H. W. Longfellow. Complete Edition”, p.288

I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon, In the round-tower of my heart, And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in the dust away!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Wall, Heart, Dust
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1992). “Favorite Poems”, p.67, Courier Corporation

Rule by patience, Laughing Water!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Patience, Water, Laughing
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, J. D. McClatchy (2000). “Poems and Other Writings”, p.205, Library of America

O thou child of many prayers! Life hath quicksands, Life hath snares! Care and age come unawares!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Life, Prayer, Children
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1849). “The Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ; Complete in One Volume”, p.52

How can I tell the signals and the signs By which one heart another heart divines? How can I tell the many thousand ways By which it keeps the secret it betrays?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Life, Heart, Secret
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1873). “Tales of a Wayside Inn”, p.242

The star of the unconquered will, He rises in my breast, Serene, and resolute, and still, And calm, and self-possessed.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Stars, Self, Calm
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1849). “The Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ; Complete in One Volume”, p.9

Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted; If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refreshment; That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Love, Spring, Rain
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, J. D. McClatchy (2000). “Poems and Other Writings”, p.88, Library of America

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