Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina

Joaquin Miller

35 quotes

“Who now shall accuse and arraign us? What man shall condemn and disown? Since Christ has said only the stainless Shall cast at his fellows a stone.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1877 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Danites: and Other Choice Selections from the Writings of Joaquin Miller (1877), p. 52.
“O woman, born first to believe us; Yea, also born first to forget; Born first to betray and deceive us, Yet first to repent and regret!O first then in all that is human, Lo! first where the Nazarene trod, O woman! O beautiful woman! Be then first in the kingdom of God!”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1877 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Danites: and Other Choice Selections from the Writings of Joaquin Miller (1877), p. 52.
“All honor to him who shall win the prize," The world has cried for a thousand years; But to him who tries, and who fails and dies, I give great honor and glory and tears.Give glory and honor and pitiful tears To all who fail in their deeds sublime; Their ghosts are many in the van of years, They were born with Time in advance of Time.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: For Those Who Fail" in Memorie and Rime (1884), p. 237.
“Oh, great is the hero who wins a name, But greater many and many a time Some pale-faced fellow who dies in shame, And lets God finish the thought sublime.And great is the man with a sword undrawn, And good is the man who refrains from wine; But the man who fails and yet still fights on, Lo, he is the twin-born brother of mine.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: For Those Who Fail" in Memorie and Rime (1884), p. 237.
“O star-built bridge, broad milky way! O star-lit, stately, splendid span! If but one star should cease to stay And prop its shoulders to God's plan — The man who lives for self, I say, He lives for neither God nor man.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1905 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Building of the City Beautiful (1905), Ch. V : How Beautiful!, p. 48.
“I count the columned waves at war With Titan elements; and they, In martial splendor, storm the bar And shake the world, these bits of spray.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1905 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Building of the City Beautiful (1905), Ch. V : How Beautiful!, p. 48.
“Each gives to each, and like the star Gets back its gift in tenfold pay.To get and give and give amain The rivers run and oceans roll. O generous and high-born rain When reigning as a splendid whole! That man who lives for self alone Lives for the meanest mortal known.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1905 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Building of the City Beautiful (1905), Ch. V : How Beautiful!, p. 48.
“Is it worthwhile that we jostle a brother, Bearing his load on the rough road of life? Is it worthwhile that we jeer at each other, In blackness of heart — that we war to the knife? God pity us all in our pitiful strife.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Oh! Downtrodden (1976) by David Zane.
“In men whom men condemn as ill I find so much of goodness still. In men whom men pronounce divine I find so much of sin and blot I hesitate to draw a line Between the two, where God has not.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He rode as rides the hurricane; He seem'd to swallow up the plain; He rode as never man did ride, He rode, for ghosts rode at his side, And on his right a grizzled grim — No, no, this tale is not of him.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A grand old Neptune in the prow, Gray-hair'd, and white with touch of time, Yet strong as in his middle prime; A grizzled king, I see him now, With beard as blown by wind of seas, And wild and white as white sea-storm, Stand up, turn suddenly, look back Along the low boat's wrinkled track, Then fold his mantle round a form Broad-built as any Hercules, And so sit silently.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beside The grim old sea-king sits his bride, A sun-land blossom, rudely torn From tropic forests to be worn Above as stern a breast as e'er Stood king at sea or anywhere.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He seem'd as lithe and free and tall And restless as the boughs that stir Perpetual topt poplar trees. And one, that one, had eyes to teach The art of love, and tongue to preach Life's hard and sober homilies; And yet his eager hands, his speech, All spoke the bold adventurer; While zoned about the belt of each There swung a girt of steel, till all Did seem a walking arsenal.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These be but men. We may forget The wild sea-king, the tawny brave, The frowning wold, the woody shore, The tall-built, sunburnt men of Mars. . .But what and who was she, the fair? The fairest face that ever yet Look'd in a wave as in a glass; That look'd as look the still, far stars, So woman-like, into the wave To contemplate their beauty there, Yet look as looking anywhere?”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I only saw her as she pass'd — A great, sad beauty, in whose eyes Lay all the loves of Paradise. . . . You shall not know her — she who sat Unconscious in my heart all time I dream'd and wove this wayward rhyme, And loved and did not blush thereat.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sunlight of a sunlit land, A land of fruit, of flowers, and A land of love and calm delight; A land where night is not like night, And noon is but a name for rest, And love for love is reckoned best. Where conversations of the eyes Are all enough; where beauty thrills The heart like hues of harvest-home; Where rage lies down, where passion dies, Where peace hath her abiding place. . . .”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A face that lifted up; sweet face That was so like a life begun, That rose for me a rising sun Above the bended seven hills Of dead and risen old new Rome.Not that I deem'd she loved me. Nay, I dared not even dream of that. I only say I knew her; say She ever sat before me, sat All still and voiceless as love is, And ever look'd so fair, divine, Her hush'd, vehement soul fill'd mine, And overflowed with Runic bliss, And made itself a part of this.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O you had loved her sitting there, Half hidden in her loosen'd hair: Why, you had loved her for her eyes, Their large and melancholy look Of tenderness, and well mistook Their love for light of Paradise.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her mouth Was roses gather'd from the south, The warm south side of Paradise, And breathed upon and handed down, By angels on a stair of stars.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This creature comes from out the dim Far centuries, beyond the rim Of time's remotest reach or stir.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I dared not dream she loved me. Nay, Her love was proud; and pride is loth To look with favor, own it fond Of one the world loves not to-day … No matter if she loved or no, God knows I loved enough for both, And knew her as you shall not know Till you have known sweet death, and you Have cross'd the dark; gone over to The great majority beyond.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lo! all things moving must go by. The sea lies dead. Behold, this land Sits desolate in dust beside His snow-white, seamless shroud of sand; The very clouds have wept and died, And only God is in the sky.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where storm-born shadows hide and hunt I knew thee, in thy glorious youth, And loved thy vast face, white as truth; I stood where thunderbolts were wont To smite thy Titan-fashioned front, And heard dark mountains rock and roll; I saw the lightning's gleaming rod Reach forth and write on heaven's scroll The awful autograph of God!”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epigraph, Ch. 1 : Mount Shasta; this appears as "To Mount Shasta" in In Classic Shades, and Other Poems (1890), p. 126
“A thousand miles of mighty wood Where thunder-storms stride fire-shod; A thousand flowers every rod, A stately tree on every rood; Ten thousand leaves on every tree, And each a miracle to me; And yet there be men who question God!”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mountains from that fearful first Named day were God's own house. Behold, 'Twas here dread Sinai's thunders burst And showed His face. 'Twas here of old His prophets dwelt. Lo, it was here The Christ did come when death drew near.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These stony altars they have hurled Oppression back, have kept the boon Of liberty. Behold, how free The mountains stand, and eternally.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the Right, through thickest night, Till the man-brute Wrong be driven From high places; till the Right Shall lift like some grand beacon light. For the Right! Love, Right and duty; Lift the world up, though you fall Heaped with dead before the wall; God can find a soul of beauty Where it falls, as gems of worth Are found by miners dark in earth.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Come listen, O Love, to the voice of the dove, Come, hearken and hear him say, THERE ARE MANY TO-MORROWS, MY LOVE, MY LOVE, — THERE IS ONLY ONE TO-DAY.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rugged! Rugged as Parnassus! Rude, as all roads I have trod — Yet are steeps and stone-strown passes Smooth o'er head, and nearest God.Here black thunders of my canyon Shake its walls in Titan wars! Here white sea-born clouds companion With such peaks as know the stars!”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dear, I took these trackless masses Fresh from Him who fashioned them; Wrought in rock, and hewed fair passes, Flower set, as sets a gem.Aye, I built in woe. God willed it; Woe that passeth ghosts of guilt. Yet I built as His birds builded — Builded singing as I built.All is finished! Roads of flowers Wait your loyal little feet. All completed? Nay, the hours Till you come are incomplete.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O, the sea of lights for streaming When the thousand flags are furled— When the gleaming bay lies dreaming As it duplicates the world!You will come my dearest, truest! Come my sovereign queen often; My blue skies will then be bluest; My white rose be whitest then:Then the song! Ah, then the sabre Flashing up the walls of night! Hate of wrong and love of neighbor Rhymes of battle for the Right!”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We plant this stone as some small seed Is sown at springtime, warm with earth; We sow this seed as some good deed Is sown, to grow until its worth Shall grow, through rugged steeps of time, To touch the God-built stars sublime.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man's books are but a climbing stair, Lain step by step, like stairs of stone; The stairway here, the temple there — Man's lampad honor, and his trust, The God who called him from the dust.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man's books are but man's alphabet, Beyond and on his lessons lie — The lessons of the violet, The large gold letters of the sky; The love of beauty, blossomed soil, The large content, the tranquil toil:The toil that nature ever taught, The patient toil, the constant stir, The toil of seas where shores are wrought, The toil of Christ, the carpenter; The toil of God incessantly By palm-set land or frozen sea.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Behold this sea, that sapphire sky! Where nature does so much for man, Shall man not set his standard high, And hold some higher, holier plan? Some loftier plan than ever planned By outworn book of outworn land?Where God has done so much for man, Shall man for God do aught at all? The soul that feeds on books alone — I count that soul exceeding small That lives alone by book and creed,— A soul that has not learned to read.”
Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source