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John Greenleaf Whittier

46 quotes

“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, But spare your country's flag," she said.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Barbara Frietchie (1863); reported in Diane Ravitch, The American Reader: words that moved a nation (2000), p. 259. The lines are based on an folkloric account of the real Barbara Fritchie, said to have made a similar c…
“The windows of my soul I throw Wide open to the sun.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Psalm, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“What is good looking, as Horace Smith remarks, but looking good? Be good, be womanly, be gentle,—generous in your sympathies, heedful of the well-being of all around you; and, my word for it, you will not lack kind words of admiration.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Beautiful, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“O, brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother; where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Worship, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Press bravely onward! — not in vain Your generous trust in human kind; The good which bloodshed could not gain Your peaceful zeal shall find.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Reformers of England, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn Which once he wore; The glory from his gray hairs gone For evermore!”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ichabod, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: John G. Whittier
“When faith is lost, when honor dies The man is dead!”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ichabod, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Making their lives a prayer.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To A. K. On receiving a Basket of Sea-Mosses, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: John G. Whittier
“Give lettered pomp to teeth of Time, So "Bonnie Doon" but tarry; Blot out the epic’s stately rhyme, But spare his "Highland Mary!”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Line on Burns, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: John G. Whittier
“Perish with him the folly that seeks through evil good.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Brown of Ossawatomie, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“The hope of all who suffer, The dread of all who wrong.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Mantle of St. John de Matha, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: John G. Whittier
“I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The eternal Goodness, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: John G. Whittier
“Again the shadow moveth o'er The dial-plate of time.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The New Year, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Yet sometimes glimpses on my sight, Through present wrong the eternal right; And, step by step, since time began, I see the steady gain of man;”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Chapel of the Hermits, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“We lack but open eye and ear To find the Orient's marvels here; The still small voice in autumn's hush, Yon maple wood the burning bush.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Better heresy of doctrine than heresy of heart.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mary Garvin, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mary Garvin, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“The Night is Mother of the Day, The Winter of the Spring, And ever upon old Decay The greenest mosses cling.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Dream of Summer, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Beauty seen is never lost.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sunset on the Bearcamp, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“God blesses still the generous thought, And still the fitting word He speeds, And Truth, at His requiring taught, He quickens into deeds.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Channing, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Each crisis brings its word and deed.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The lost Occasion, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“The Beauty which old Greece or Rome Sung, painted, wrought, lies close at home.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To ———, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“We seemed to see our flag unfurled, Our champion waiting in his place For the last battle of the world, The Armageddon of the race.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rantoul, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Nature speaks in symbols and in signs.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Charles Sumner, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Who never wins can rarely lose, Who never climbs as rarely falls.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To James T. Fields, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“To eat the lotus of the Nile And drink the poppies of Cathay.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tent on the Beach, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“The harp at Nature's advent strung Has never ceased to play; The song the stars of morning sung Has never died away.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Worship of Nature, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Falsehoods which we spurn to-day Were the truths of long ago.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Calef in Boston, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Low stir of leaves and dip of oars And lapsing waves on quiet shores.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Snow Bound, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: John G. Whittier
“All hearts confess the saints elect, Who, twain in faith, in love agree, And melt not in an acid sect The Christian pearl of charity!”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Snow Bound, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Life is ever lord of Death And Love can never lose its own.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Snow Bound, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Let the thick curtain fall; I better know than all How little I have gained, How vast the unattained.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Triumph, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Sweeter than any sung My songs that found no tongue; Nobler than any fact My wish that failed of act. Others shall sing the song, Others shall right the wrong,— Finish what I begin, And all I fail of win.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Triumph, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“God is and all is well.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Birthday, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare Browning, Pippa Passes.
“Their right, like that of their white fellow-citizens, dates back to the dread arbitrament of war. Their bones whiten every stricken field of the Revolution; their feet tracked with blood the snows of Jersey; their toil built up every fortification south of the Potomac; they shared the famine and nakedness of Valley Forge, and the pestilential horrors of the old Jersey prison ship.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) first seen 1855 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, by William Cooper Nell, p. 339. (1855)
“The laws of changeless justice bind Oppressor with oppressed And close as sin and suffering joined We march to fate abreast.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maud Muller, on a summer's day, Raked the meadows sweet with hay. Beneath her torn hat glowed the wealth Of simple beauty and rustic health.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So, closing his heart, the Judge rode on, And Maud was left in the field alone. But the lawyers smiled that afternoon, When he hummed in court an old love-tune.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He wedded a wife of richest dower, Who lived for fashion, as he for power. Yet oft, in his marble hearth's bright glow, He watched a picture come and go: And sweet Maud Muller's hazel eyes Looked out in their innocent surprise.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A manly form at her side she saw, And joy was duty and love was law. Then she took up her burden of life again, Saying only, "It might have been".”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Weary lawyers with endless tongues.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Alas for maiden, alas for Judge, For rich repiner and household drudge! God pity them both! and pity us all, Who vainly the dreams of youth recall; For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: "It might have been!”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God's ways seem dark, but, soon or late, They touch the shining hills of day; The evil cannot brook delay, The good can well afford to wait.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As yonder tower outstretches to the earth The dark triangle of its shade alone When the clear day is shining on its top; So, darkness in the pathway of man's life Is but the shadow of God's providence, By the great Sun of wisdom cast thereon; And what is dark below is light in heaven.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For they the mind of Christ discern Who lean, like John, upon His breast.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Strike! Thou the Master, we Thy keys, The anthem of the destinies! The minor of Thy loftier strain, Our hearts shall breathe the old refrain — "Thy will be done!”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source