Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.
The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
Into each life some rain must fall.
Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.
Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
Music is the universal language of mankind.
For age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though in another dress, And as the evening twilight fades away The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait.
Thy fate is the common fate of all; Into each life some rain must fall.
Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.
A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
Youth comes but once in a lifetime.
In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.
If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.
They who go Feel not the pain of parting; it is they Who stay behind that suffer.
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books.
Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose.
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer.
A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child.
The nearer the dawn the darker the night.
There is no grief like the grief that does not speak.
He that respects himself is safe from others. He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.
Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.
Man is always more than he can know of himself; consequently, his accomplishments, time and again, will come as a surprise to him.
Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.
All things must change to something new, to something strange.
Joy, temperance, and repose, slam the door on the doctor's nose.
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.
It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun.
The dawn is not distant, nor is the night starless; love is eternal.
The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.
Method is more important than strength, when you wish to control your enemies. By dropping golden beads near a snake, a crow once managed To have a passer-by kill the snake for the beads.
Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.
Simplicity in character, in manners, in style; in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.
The human voice is the organ of the soul.
Talk not of wasted affection - affection never was wasted.
Something attempted, something done, Has earned a nights repose.
Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.
Build today, then strong and sure, With a firm and ample base; And ascending and secure. Shall tomorrow find its place.
There is nothing holier in this life of ours than the first consciousness of love, the first fluttering of its silken wings.
If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak.
Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.
I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.