Background Image
Enthusiasm Begets Enthusiasm, Eloquence Produces Conviction For The Moment; But It Is Only By Truth To Nature And The Everlasting Institutions Of Mankind That Those Abiding Influences Are Won That Enlarge From Generation To Generation.
-James Russell Lowell
Please Wait....
Translating....

Enthusiasm Begets Enthusiasm, Eloquence

James Russell Lowell
Enthusiasm Begets Enthusiasm, Eloquence Produces Conviction For The Moment; But It Is Only By Truth To Nature And The Everlasting Institutions Of Mankind That Those Abiding Influences Are Won That Enlarge From Generation To Generation.
Views: 7
Topic
Enthusiasm
Abiding
Generations
More From James Russell Lowell
Creativity Is Not The Finding Of A Thing, But The Making Something Out Of It After It Is Found.
Life
Beautiful
Creativity
For Men In Earnest Have No Time To Waste In Patching Fig-leaves For The Naked Truth.
Truth
Men
Naked
Virtue Treads Paths That End Not In The Grave.
Path
Virtue
Ends
He Mastered Whatever Was Not Worth The Knowing.
Education
Work
Knowledge
Old Events Have Modern Meanings; Only That Survives Of Past History Which Finds Kindred In All Hearts And Lives.
Heart
Past
History
Wealth May Be An Excellent Thing, For It Means Power, And It Means Leisure, It Means Liberty.
Mean
Liberty
May
Men Have Their Intellectual Ancestry, And The Likeness Of Some One Of Them Is Forever Unexpectedly Flashing Out In The Features Of A Descendant, It May Be After A Gap Of Several Centuries. In The Parliament Of The Present Every Man Represents A Constituency Of The Past.
Past
Men
Forever
Like Streams That Keep A Summer Mind Snow-hid In Jenooary.
Summer
Snow
Mind
In General Those Who Nothing Have To Say Contrive To Spend The Longest Time In Doing It.
Speech
Some Kind Of Pace May Be Got Out Of The Eeriest Jade By The Near Prospect Of Oats; But The Thoroughbred Has The Spur In His Blood.
Oats
Blood
Spurs
The Traitor To Humanity Is The Traitor Most Accursed; Man Is More Than Constitutions; Better Rot Beneath The Sod, Than Be True To Church And State While We Are Doubly False To God.
Men
Humanity
Church
New Occasions Teach New Duties, Time Makes Ancient Good Uncouth; They Must Upward Still And Onward, Who Would Keep Abreast Of Truth.
Onward And Upward
Progress
Ancient
He Who Is Firmly Seated In Authority Soon Learns To Think Security, And Not Progress, The Highest Lesson In Statecraft.
Thinking
Progress
Literature
The Holy Supper Is Kept, Indeed, In Whatso We Share With Anothers Need; Not What We Give, But What We Share, For The Gift Without The Giver Is Bare; Who Gives Himself With His Alms Feeds Three, Himself, His Hungering Neighbor, And Me.
Giving
Three
Needs
We Kind O' Thought Christ Went Agin War An' Pillage.
War
Kind
Christ
Against The Windows The Storm Comes Dashing, Through Tattered Foliage The Hail Tears Crashing, The Blue Lightning Flashes, The Rapid Hail Clashes... The Thunder Is Rumbling And Crashing And Crumbling.
Blue
Weather
Tears
Many Make The Household But Only One The Home.
Home
Household
What Means This Glory Round Our Feet, The Magi Mused, "more Bright Than Morn!" And Voices Chanted Clear And Sweet, "to-day The Prince Of Peace Is Born.
Christmas
Sweet
Mean
Most Religion-mongers Have Bated Their Paradises With A Bit Of Toasted Cheese. They Have Tempted The Body With Large Promises Of Possessions In Their Transmortal El Dorado. Sancho Panza Will Not Quit His Chimney-corner, But Under Promise Of Imaginary Islands To Govern.
Islands
Promise
Religion
All The Beautiful Sentiments In The World Weigh Less Than A Single Lovely Action.
Love
Inspirational
Life
Earth's Biggest Country 's Gut Her Soul, An' Risen Up Earth's Greatest Nation.
Country
Soul
Earth
The Pressure Of Public Opinion Is Like The Pressure Of The Atmosphere; You Can't See It - But All The Same, It Is Sixteen Pounds To The Square Inch.
Squares
Atmosphere
Sixteen
It Is The Privilege Of Genius That Life Never Grows Common Place, As It Does For The Rest Of Us.
Doe
Genius
Literature
The Intellect Has Only One Failing, Which, To Be Sure, Is A Very Considerable One. It Has No Conscience.
Failing
Intellect
Conscience
Ah, In This World, Where Every Guiding Thread Ends Suddenly In The One Sure Centre, Death, The Visionary Hand Of Might-have-been Alone Can Fill Desire's Cup To The Brim!
Regret
Hands
Desire
Fashion Being The Art Of Those Who Must Purchase Notice At Some Cheaper Rate Than That Of Being Beautiful, Loves To Do Rash And Extravagant Things. She Must Be Forever New, Or She Becomes Insipid.
Beautiful
Fashion
Art
God Does Not Weigh Criminality In Our Scales. We Have One Absolute, With The Seal Of Authority Upon It; And With Us An Ounce Is An Ounce, And A Pound A Pound. God's Measure Is The Heart Of The Offender,--a Balance Which Varies With Every One Of Us, A Balance So Delicate That A Tear Cast In The Other Side May Make The Weight Of Error Kick The Beam.
Heart
Errors
Balance
Christ Was The First True Democrat That Ever Breathed, As The Old Dramatist Dekkar Said He Was The First True Gentleman.
Gentleman
Democracy
Firsts
It ["the Ancient Mariner"] Is Marvellous In Its Mastery Over That Delightfully Fortuitous Inconsequence That Is The Adamantine Logic Of Dreamland.
Poetry
Mastery
Logic
It Is Curious How Tyrannical The Habit Of Reading Is...
Reason
Habit
Curious
The Secret Of Force In Writing Lies Not So Much In The Pedigree Of Nouns And Adjectives And Verbs, As In Having Something That You Believe In To Say, And Making The Parts Of Speech Vividly Conscious Of It.
Lying
Believe
Writing
From Lower To The Higher Next, Not To The Top, Is Nature's Text; And Embryo Good, To Reach Full Stature, Absorbs The Evil In Its Nature.
Evil
Next
Embryos
Who Gives Himself With His Alms Feeds Three, Himself, His Hungering Neighbor And Me.
Giving
Three
Charity
It Is By Presence Of Mind In Untried Emergencies That The Native Metal Of Man Is Tested.
Men
Presence Of Mind
Emergencies
They Are Slaves Who Fear To Speak For The Fallen And The Weak; They Are Slaves Who Will Not Choose Hatred, Scoffing, And Abuse, Rather Than In Silence Shrink From The Truth They Needs Must Think; They Are Slaves Who Dare Not Be In The Right With Two Or Three.
Thinking
Two
Hatred
Good Luck Is The Willing Handmaid Of Upright, Energetic Character, And Conscientious Observance Of Duty.
Character
Good Luck
Best Of Luck
Not A Change For The Better In Our Human Housekeeping Has Ever Taken Place That Wise And Good Men Have Not Opposed It-have Not Prophesied That The World Would Wake Up To Find Its Throat Cut In Consequence.
Wise
Taken
Cutting
Tyrants Are But The Spawn Of Ignorance, Begotten By The Slaves They Trample On.
Ignorance
Tyrants
Slave
A Father Of The Church Said That Property Was Theft, Many Centuries Before Proudhon Was Born. Bourdaloue Reaffirmed It. Montesquieu Was The Inventor Of National Workshops And Of The Theory That The State Owed Every Man A Living. Nay, Was Not The Church Herself The First Organized Democracy?
Father
Men
Church
Where Church And State Are Habitually Associated, It Is Natural That Minds, Even Of A High Order, Should Unconsciously Come To Regard Religion As Only A Subtler Mode Of Police.
Order
Police
Mind
Granting Our Wish Is One Of Fate's Saddest Jokes.
Success
Fate
Wish
It Is The Vain Endeavor To Make Ourselves What We Are Not That Has Strewn History With So Many Broken Purposes And Lives Left In The Rough.
Broken
Purpose
Vain
Whatever You May Be Sure Of, Be Sure Of This, That You Are Dreadfully Like Other People.
Humility
Equality
People
The Devil Loves Nothing Better Than The Intolerance Of Reformers.
Hypocrisy
Devil
Intolerance
I Have Always Been Of The Mind That In A Democracy Manners Are The Only Effective Weapons Against The Bowie-knife.
Knives
Mind
Democracy
The Mind Can Weave Itself Warmly In The Cocoon Of Its Own Thoughts, And Dwell A Hermit Anywhere.
War
House
Mind
Fanaticism, Or, To Call It By Its Milder Name, Enthusiasm, Is Only Powerful And Active So Long As It Is Aggressive. Establish It Firmly In Power, And It Becomes Conservatism, Whether It Will Or No.
Powerful
Names
Long
Let Us Be Of Good Cheer, However, Remembering That The Misfortunes Hardest To Bear Are Those Which Never Come.
Inspirational
Life
Success
There Are Two Kinds Of Weakness, That Which Breaks And That Which Bends.
Destiny
Two
Weakness
The Ash Her Purple Drops Forgivingly And Sadly, Breaking Not The General Hush; The Maple Swamps Glow Like A Sunset Sea, Each Leaf A Ripple With Its Separate Flush; All Round The Wood's Edge Creeps The Skirting Blaze, Ere The Rain Falls, The Cautious Farmer Burns His Brush.
Fall
Rain
Sunset
The Question Of Common Sense Is Always: 'what Is It Good For?' - A Question Which Would Abolish The Rose And Be Answered Triumphantly By The Cabbage.
Rose
Common Sense
Cabbage
Poetry Is Something To Make Us Wiser And Better, By Continually Revealing Those Types Of Beauty And Truth, Which God Has Set In All Men's Souls.
Beauty
Men
Soul
All Thoughts That Mold The Age Begin Deep Down Within The Primitive Soul.
Ideas
Soul
Age
Communism Means Barbarism.
Mean
Communism
Barbarism
And What Is So Rare As A Day In June? Then, If Ever, Come Perfect Days.
June
Perfect Days
Literature
And What They Dare To Dream Of, Date To Do.
Dream
Dare To Dream
Daring
We Cannot But Think There Is Something Like A Fallacy In Mr. Buckle's Theory That The Advance Of Mankind Is Necessarily In The Direction Of Science, And Not In That Of Morals.
Science
Thinking
Moral
Sincerity Is Impossible, Unless It Pervade The Whole Being, And The Pretence Of It Saps The Very Foundation Of Character.
Character
Foundation
Sap
That Best Academy, A Mother's Knee.
Family
Mothers Day
Mom
God'll Send The Bill To You.
God
Bills
Democracy Gives Every Man The Right To Be His Own Oppressor.
Freedom
Men
Democracies Have
The Child Is Not Mine As The First Was, I Cannot Sing It To Rest, I Cannot Lift It Up Fatherly And Bliss It Upon My Breast; Yet It Lies In My Little One's Cradle And Sits In My Little One's Chair, And The Light Of The Heaven She's Gone To Transfigures Its Golden Hair.
Children
Lying
Light
Pride Of Origin, Whether High Or Low, Springs From The Same Principle In Human Nature; One Is But The Positive, The Other The Negative, Pole Of A Single Weakness.
Spring
Pride
Weakness
A Wise Man Travels To Discover Himself.
Inspirational
Wise
Travel
A Nature Wise With Finding In Itself The Types Of All, With Watching From The Dim Verge Of The Time What Things To Be Are Visible In The Gleams Thrown Forward On Them From The Luminous Past, Wise With The History Of Its Own Frail Heart, With Reverence And Sorrow, And With Love, Broad As The World, For Freedom And For Man.
Wise
Heart
Character
Practical Application Is The Only Mordant Which Will Set Things In The Memory. Study Without It Is Gymnastics, And Not Work, Which Alone Will Get Intellectual Bread.
Memories
Gymnastics
Intellectual
Console Yourself, Dear Man And Brother; Whatever You May Be Sure Of, Be Sure At Least Of This, That You Are Dreadfully Like Other People. Human Nature Has A Much Greater Genius For Sameness Than For Originality.
Brother
Men
People
Truth Is Quite Beyond The Reach Of Satire. There Is So Brave A Simplicity In Her That She Can No More Be Made Ridiculous Than An Oak Or A Pine.
Brave
Simplicity
Ridiculous
The Right To Be A Cussed Fool Is Safe From All Devices Human, It's Common (ez A Gin'i Rule) To Every Critter Born Of Woman.
Fool
Safe
Common
Not Failure, But Low Aim, Is Crime.
Inspirational
Fear
Educational
Fortune Is The Rod Of The Weak, And The Staff Of The Brave.
Bravery
Literature
Weak
In The Gain Or Loss Of One Race All The Rest Have Equal Claim.
Loss
Race
Gains
Human Nature Has A Much Greater Genius For Sameness Than For Originality.
Genius
Originality
Human Nature
Life Is The Jailer, Death The Angel Sent To Draw The Unwilling Bolts And Set Us Free.
Death
Angel
Dying
The Greatest Homage We Can Pay To Truth, Is To Use It.
Truth
Honesty
Integrity
A Weed Is No More Than A Flower In Disguise.
Inspirational
Weed
Nature
Be He Nowhere Else, God Is In All That Liberates And Lifts, In All That Humbles, Sweetens, And Consoles.
God
Lifts
Console
Light Is The Symbol Of Truth.
Light
Literature
Spiritual Healing
Ez Fer War, I Call It Murder,- There You Hev It Plain An' Flat; I Don't Want To Go No Furder Than My Testyment Fer That. . . . . . An' You 've Gut To Git Up Airly Ef You Want To Take In God.
War
Want
Murder
No Man, I Suspect, Ever Lived Long In The Country Without Being Bitten By These Meteorological Ambitions. He Likes To Be Hotter And Colder, To Have Been More Deeply Snowed Up, To Have More Trees And Larger Blown Down Than His Neighbors.
Country
Ambition
Men
And Blessed Are The Horny Hands Of Toil.
Blessed
Hands
Horny
Literature, Properly So Called, Draws Its Sap From The Deep Soil Of Human Nature's Common And Everlasting Sympathies, The Gathered Leaf-mound Of Countless Generations, And Not From Any Top Dressing Capriciously Scattered Over The Surface.
Soil
Generations
Sap
Two Meanings Have Our Lightest Fantasies,- One Of The Flesh, And Of The Spirit One.
Two
Flesh
Spirit
These Pearls Of Thought In Persian Gulfs Were Bred, Each Softly Lucent As A Rounded Moon; The Diver Omar Plucked Them From Their Bed, Fitzgerald Strung Them On An English Thread.
Moon
Bed
Pearls
The Material Of Thought Re-acts Upon The Thought Itself.
Materials
Earth Gets Its Price For What Earth Gives Us; The Beggar Is Taxed For A Corner To Die In, The Priest Hath His Fee Who Comes And Shrives Us, We Bargain For The Graves We Lie In; Each Ounce Of Dross Costs Its Ounce Of Gold... 't Is Heaven Alone That Is Given Away, 't Is Only God May Be Had For The Asking; There Is No Price Set On The Lavish Summer, And June May Be Had By The Poorest Comer.
Summer
Money
Lying
Evil Is A Far More Cunning And Persevering Propagandist Than Good, For It Has No Inward Strength, And Is Driven To Seek Countenance And Sympathy.
Evil
Inward
Driven
Fools, When Their Roof-tree Falls, Think It Doomsday.
Fall
Thinking
Tree
If The Devil Take A Less Hateful Shape To Us Than To Our Fathers, He Is As Busy With Us As With Them.
Father
Devil
Shapes
I Would Hardly Change The Sorrowful Words Of The Poets For Their Glad Ones. Tears Dampen The Strings Of The Lyre, But They Grow The Tensor For It, And Ring Even The Clearer And More Ravishingly.
Tears
Poet
Strings
Among The Lessons Taught By The French Revolution, There Is None Sadder Or More Striking Than This--that You May Make Everything Else Out Of The Passions Of Men Except A Political System That Will Work, And That There Is Nothing So Pitilessly And Unconsciously Cruel As Sincerity Formulated Into Dogma.
Passion
Men
Political
No Man Is Born Into The World Whose Work Is Not Born With Him. There Is Always Work, And Tools To Work Withal, For Those Who Will; And Blessed Are The Horny Hands Of Toil.
Work
Blessed
Men
So We're All Right, An' I, For One, Don't Think Our Cause'll Lose In Vally By Rammin' Scriptur' In Our Gun, An' Gittin' Natur' For An Ally.
Gun
Thinking
Causes
Old Gold Has A Civilizing Virtue Which New Gold Must Grow Old To Be Capable Of Secreting.
Gold
Wealth
Virtue
The Greater Your Real Strength And Power, The Quieter It Will Be Exercised.
Real
Vehemence
Greater
Now The Heart Is So Full That A Drop Overfills It, We Are Happy Now Because God So Wills It; No Matter How Barren The Past May Have Been, 't Is Enough For Us Now That The Leaves Are Green; We Sit In The Warm Shade And Feel Right Well How The Sap Creeps Up And The Blossoms Swell... The Breeze Comes Whispering In Our Ear, That Dandelions Are Blossoming Near... Every Thing Is Upward Striving; 't Is As Easy Now For The Heart To Be True As For Grass To Be Green Or Skies To Be Blue, - 't Is The Natural Way Of Living.
Summer
Heart
Past
It Is Quite Too Common A Practice, Both In Readers And The More Superficial Class Of Critics, To Judge A Book By What It Is Not, A Matter Much Easier To Determine Than What It Is.
Book
Practice
Class
Reading Enables Us To See With The Keenest Eyes, To Hear With The Finest Ears, And Listen To The Sweetest Voices Of All Time.
Reading
Eye
Voice
Endurance Is The Crowning Quality.
Perseverance
Quality
Endurance
Ah, Men Do Not Know How Much Strength Is In Poise, That He Goes The Farthest Who Goes Far Enough.
Strength
Wisdom
Men
In Creating, The Only Hard Thing Is To Begin: A Grass Blade's No Easier To Make Than An Oak.
Inspirational
Creativity
Play
Better To Me The Poor Mans Crust, Better The Blessing Of The Poor, Though I Turn Me Empty From His Door; That Is No True Alms Which The Hand Can Hold; He Gives Nothing But Worthless Gold Who Gives From A Sense Of Duty; But He Who Gives A Slender Mite, And Gives To That Which Is Out Of Sight, That Thread Of The All-sustaining Beauty Which Runs Through All And Doth All Unite, - The Hand Cannot Clasp The Whole Of His Alms, The Heart Outstretches Its Eager Palms, For A God Goes With It And Makes It Store To The Soul That Was Starving In Darkness Before.
Running
Heart
Blessing
Dear Common Flower, That Grow'st Beside The Way, Fringing The Dusty Road With Harmless Gold, First Pledge Of Blithesome May, Which Children Pluck, And, Full Of Pride Uphold.
Children
Flower
Pride
Fate Loves The Fearless.
Fate
Thinking
Stay Positive
As Life Runs On, The Road Grows Strange With Faces New - And Near The End. The Milestones Into Headstones Change, Neath Every One A Friend.
Running
Time
Reality
True Scholarship Consists In Knowing Not What Things Exist, But What They Mean; It Is Not Memory But Judgment.
Memories
Knowledge
Mean
All Thoughtful Men Are Solitary And Original In Themselves.
Thoughtful
Men
Originality
Things Always Seem Fairer When We Look Back At Them, And It Is Out Of That Inaccessible Tower Of The Past That Longing Leans And Beckons.
Past
Towers
Looks
There Are Two Kinds Of Genius. The First And Highest May Be Said To Speak Out Of The Eternal To The Present, And Must Compel Its Age To Understand It; The Second Understands Its Age, And Tells It What It Wishes To Be Told.
Two
Speaks Out
Wish
An Appeal To The Reason Of The People Has Never Been Known To Fail In The Long Run.
Running
Long
People
I Love Her With A Love As Still As A Broad River's Peaceful Might, Which By High Tower And Lowly Mill, Goes Wandering At Its Own Will, And Yet Does Ever Flow Aright.
Love
Peace
Rivers
Time Makes Ancient Good Uncouth.
Onward And Upward
Ancient
Uncouth
The Time Is Ripe, And Rotten-ripe, For Change... [truth's] Mirror Is Turned Forward, To Reflect The Promise Of The Future, Not The Past.
Past
Mirrors
Promise
'tis Sorrow Builds The Shining Ladder Up, Whose Golden Rounds Are Our Calamities, Whereon Our Firm Feet Planting, Nearer God The Spirit Climbs, And Hath Its Eyes Unsealed. True It Is That Death's Face Seems Stern And Cold When He Is Sent To Summon Those We Love; But All God's Angels Come To Us Disguised; Sorrow And Sickness, Poverty And Death, One After Another, Lift Their Frowning Masks, And We Behold The Seraph's Face Beneath, All Radiant With The Glory And The Calm Of Having Looked Upon The Front Of God.
Love
Eye
Angel
Where One Person Shapes Their Life By Precept And Example, There Are A Thousand Who Have Shaped It By Impulse And Circumstances.
Discipline
Example
Literature
Pride And Weakness Are Siamese Twins.
Pride
Weakness
Twins
The Idol Is The Measure Of The Worshipper.
Idols
Idolatry
Worshippers
At The Devil's Booth Are All Things Sold. Each Ounce Of Dross Costs Its Ounce Of Gold.
Devil
Gold
Cost
Books Are The Bees Which Carry The Quickening Pollen From One To Another Mind.
Book
Reading
Mind
Fate Loves Best Such Syllables As Are Sweet And Sonorous On The Tongue.
Sweet
Fate
Love Is
Fastidiousness Is Only Another Word For Egotism; And All Men Who Know Not Where To Look For Truth Save In The Narrow Well Of Self Will Find Their Own Image At The Bottom, And Mistake It For What They Are Seeking.
Mistake
Men
Self
Each Day The World Is Born Anew For Him Who Takes It Rightly.
Recovery
New Beginnings
Addiction
A Great Man Is Made Up Of Qualities That Meet Or Make Great Occasions.
Greatness
Destiny
Men
For There's Nothing We Read Of In Torture's Inventions, Like A Well-meaning Dunce, With The Best Of Intentions.
Motivation
Intention
Invention
Laborin' Man An' Laborin' Woman Hev One Glory An' One Shame; Ev'y Thin' Thet' S Done Inhuman Injers All On 'em The Same.
Women
Ems
Done
It Is Only By Instigation Of The Wrongs Of Men That What Are Called The Rights Of Man Become Turbulent And Dangerous.
Men
Rights
Revolution
Truly There Is A Tide In The Affairs Of Men; But There Is No Gulf-stream Setting Forever In One Direction.
Life
Destiny
Men
In Life's Small Things Be Resolute And Great To Keep Thy Muscle Trained; Know'st Thou When Fate Thy Measure Takes, Or When She'll Say To Thee, "i Find Thee Worthy; Do This Deed For Me?"
Life
Time
Fate
Not What We Give, But What We Share, For The Gift Without The Giver Is Bare.
Friendship
Thank You
Giving
I Who Still Pray At Morning And At Eve Thrice In My Life Perhaps Have Truly Prayed, Thrice Stirred Below Conscious Self Have Felt That Perfect Disenthrallment Which Is God.
Morning
Self
Perfect
The Quiet Tenderness Of Chaucer, Where You Almost Seem To Hear The Hot Tears Falling, And The Simple Choking Words Sobbed Out.
Fall
Simple
Tears
The Flowers Or Weeds That Spring Up Tomorrow Are In The Seeds We Sow Today. The Foolish And The Dead Alone Never Change Their Opinions.
Weed
Spring
Flower
A Poet Must Need Be Before His Own Age, To Be Even With Posterity
Age
Needs
Poet
Endurance Is The Crowning Quality, And Patience All The Passion Of Great Hearts.
Patience
Passion
Heart
't Is Heaven Alone That Is Given Away; 't Is Only God May Be Had For The Asking.
Heaven
Asking
May
Good Heavens, Of What Un Costly Material Is Our Earthly Happiness Composed... If We Only Knew It. What Incomes Have We Not Had From A Flower, And How Unfailing Are The Dividends Of The Seasons.
Nature
Flower
Simplicity
Ef You Want Peace, The Thing You've Gut To Du Is Jes' To Show You're Up To Fightin', Tu.
Peace
Want
Shows
True Love Is But A Humble, Low Born Thing, And Hath Its Food Served Up In Earthenware; It Is A Thing To Walk With, Hand In Hand, Through The Every-dayness Of This Workday World.
Life
Humble
Love Is
For Only By Unlearning Wisdom Comes.
Wisdom
In The Parliament Of The Present Every Man Represents A Constituency Of The Past.
Past
Men
Parliament
I Don't Believe In Principle, But I Do In Interest.
Believe
Curiosity
Principles
It Is Not The Insurrections Of Ignorance That Are Dangerous, But The Revolts Of The Intelligence.
Ignorance
Intelligent
Fool
Incredulity Robs Us Of Many Pleasures, And Gives Us Nothing In Return.
Giving
Literature
Return
Our American Republic Will Endure Only As Long As The Ideas Of The Men Who Founded It Continue Dominant.
Men
Ideas
Long
Idleness Induces Caprice.
Caprice
Idleness
To Me It Seems Not Unreasonable To Find A Re-enforcement Of Optimism, A Renewal Of Courage And Hope, In The Modern Theory That Man Has Mounted To What He Is From The Lowest Step Of Potentiality, Through Toilsome Grades Of Ever-expanding Existence, Even Thought It Have Been By A Spiral Stairway, Mainly Dark Or Dusty, With Loop-holes At Long Intervals Only, And These Granting But A Narrow And One-sided View.
Dark
Men
Views
If God Made Poets For Anything, It Was To Keep Alive The Traditions Of The Pure, The Holy, And The Beautiful.
Beautiful
Alive
Tradition
[b]ut In Literature, It Should Be Remembered, A Thing Always Becomes His At Last Who Says It Best, And Thus Makes It His Own.
Literature
Lasts
Should
That Love For One, From Which There Doth Not Spring Wide Love For All, Is But A Worthless Thing.
Love
Spring
Wide
Of My Merit On That Pint You Yourself May Jedge: All Is, I Never Drink No Sperit, Nor I Haint Never Signed No Pledge.
May
Merit
Drink
Tiny Salmoneus Of The Air His Mimic Bolts The Firefly Threw.
Firefly
Air
Tiny
In All Literary History There Is No Such Figure As Dante, No Such Homogeneousness Of Life And Works, Such Loyalty To Ideas, Such Sublime Irrecognition Of The Unessential.
Loyalty
Ideas
Sublime
Whoever Can Endure Unmixed Delight, Whoever Can Tolerate Music And Painting And Poetry All In One, Whoever Wishes To Be Rid Of Thought And To Let The Busy Anvils Of The Brain Be Silent For A Time, Let Him Read In The "faery Queen."
Time
Queens
Brain
The Course Of A Great Statesman Resembles That Of Navigable Rivers, Avoiding Immovable Obstacles With Noble Bends Of Concession, Seeking The Broad Levels Of Opinion On Which Men Soonest Settle And Longest Dwell, Following And Marking The Almost Imperceptible Slopes Of National Tendency, Yet Always Aiming At Direct Advances, Always Recruited From Sources Nearer Heaven, And Sometimes Bursting Open Paths Of Progress And Fruitful Human Commerce Through What Seem The Eternal Barriers Of Both.
Men
Rivers
Heaven
New Occasions Teach New Duties.
Onward And Upward
Duty
Teach
It May Be Glorious To Write Thoughts That Shall Glad The Two Or Three High Souls, Like Those Far Stars That Come In Sight Once In A Century.
Stars
Writing
Two
Behind The Dim Unknown, Standeth God With The Shadow, Keeping Watch Above His Own.
Shadow
Watches
Breaking Silence
Most Long Lives Resemble Those Threads Of Gossamer, The Nearest Approach To Nothing Unmeaningly Prolonged, Scarce Visible Pathways Of Some Worm From His Cradle To His Grave.
Long
Age
Pathways
There Is Surely Room For Yet Another Schoolmaster When A Score Of Seers Advertise Themselves In Boston Newspapers.
Boston
Rooms
Newspapers
Life May Be Given In Many Ways, And Loyalty To Truth Be Sealed As Bravely In The Closet As The Field.
Loyalty
Bravery
May
Tis Easy Now For The Heart To Be True As For Grass To Be Green Or Skies To Be Blue-- 'tis The Natural Way Of Living.
Heart
Blue
Sky
In The Ocean Of Baseness, The Deeper We Get, The Easier The Sinking.
Ocean
Literature
Morality
Here Was A Type Of The True Elder Race, And One Of Plutarch's Men Talked With Us Face To Face.
Men
Race
Elderly
Nature, They Say, Doth Dote, And Cannot Make A Man Save On Some Worn-out Plan, Repeating Us By Rote.
Nature
Men
Worn
Enthusiasm Begets Enthusiasm, Eloquence Produces Conviction For The Moment; But It Is Only By Truth To Nature And The Everlasting Institutions Of Mankind That Those Abiding Influences Are Won That Enlarge From Generation To Generation.
Enthusiasm
Abiding
Generations
But Better Far It Is To Speak One Simple Word, Which Now And Then Shall Waken Their Free Nature In The Weak And Friendless Sons Of Men.
Sympathy
Son
Simple
There Is A Law Of Neutralization Of Forces, Which Hinders Bodies From Sinking Beyond A Certain Depth In The Sea; But In The Ocean Of Baseness, The Deeper We Get, The Easier The Sinking.
Ocean
Sea
Law
O Visionary World, Condition Strange, Where Naught Abiding Is But Only Change.
Change
Abiding
Visionaries
The True Ideal Is Not Opposed To The Real But Lies In It; And Blessed Are The Eyes That Find It.
Real
Lying
Blessed
Not Only Around Our Infancy Doth Heaven With All Its Splendors Lie; Daily, With Souls That Cringe And Plot, We Sinais Climb And Know It Not.
Lying
Heaven
Soul
Not A Deed Would He Do, Not A Word Would He Utter, Till He's Weighed Its Relation To Plain Bread And Butter.
Food
Cooking
Deeds
The Time Is Ripe, And Rotten-ripe, For Change; Then Let It Come: I Have No Dread Of What Is Called For By The Instinct Of Mankind. Nor Think I That God's World Would Fall Apart Because We Tear A Parchment More Or Less. Truth Is Eternal, But Her Effluence, With Endless Change, Is Fitted To The Hour; Her Mirror Is Turned Forward, To Reflect The Promise Of The Future, Not The Past. I Do Not Fear To Follow Out The Truth.
Fall
Past
Thinking
There Comes Emerson First, Whose Rich Words, Every One, Are Like Gold Nails In Temples To Hang Trophies On.
Gold
Nails
Firsts
The Pine Is The Mother Of Legends.
Mother
Legends
One Of The Things Particularly Admirable In The Public Utterances Of President Lincoln Is A Certain Tone Of Familiar Dignity, Which, While It Is Perhaps The Most Difficult Attainment Of Mere Style, Is Also No Doubtful Indication Of Personal Character. There Must Be Something Essentially Noble In An Elective Ruler Who Can Descend To The Level Of Confidential Ease Without Forfeiting Respect, Something Very Manly In One Who Can Break Through The Etiquette Of His Conventional Rank And Trust Himself To The Reason And Intelligence Of Those Who Have Elected Him.
Character
Break Through
Style
Better One Bite At Forty, Of Truths Bitter Rind, Than The Hot Wine That Gushed From The Vintage Of Twenty.
Wine
Vintage
Twenties
Hush! Still As Death, The Tempest Holds His Breath As From A Sudden Will; The Rain Stops Short, But From The Eaves You See It Drop, And Hear It From The Leaves, All Is So Bodingly Still.
Rain
Weather
Tempest
Darkness Is Strong, And So Is Sin, But Surely God Endures Forever!
God
Strong
Dark
Winds Wanders, And Dews Drip Earthward; Rains Fall, Suns Rise And Set; Earth Whirls, And All But To Prosper A Poor Little Violet.
Rain
Fall
Wind
There Is No Bore We Dread Being Left Alone With So Much As Our Own Minds.
Mind
Left Alone
Dread
And But Two Ways Are Offered To Our Will, Toil With Rare Triumph, Ease With Safe Disgrace, The Problem Still For Us And All Of Human Race.
Two
Race
Ease
Whom The Heart Of Man Shuts Out, Sometimes The Heart Of God Takes In, And Fences Them All Round About With Silence Mid The Worlds Loud Din.
Loneliness
Heart
Men
He's True To God Who's True To Man.
Men
While Tenderness Of Feeling And Susceptibility To Generous Emotions Are Accidents Of Temperament, Goodness Is An Achievement Of The Will And A Quality Of The Life.
Good Life
Achievement
Feelings
Over All Life Broods Poesy, Like The Calm Blue Sky With Its Motherly, Rebuking Face. She Is The Great Reformer, And Where The Love Of Her Is Strong And Healthy, Wickedness And Wrong Cannot Long Prevail.
Strong
Blue
Sky
It Is Mediocrity Which Makes Laws And Sets Mantraps And Spring-guns In The Realm Of Free Song, Saying Thus Far Shalt Thou Go And No Further.
Song
Spring
Gun
They Talk About Their Pilgrim Blood, Their Birthright High And Holy! A Mountain-stream That Ends In Mud Thinks Is Melancholy.
Thinking
Blood
Mountain
The Path Of Nature Is, Indeed, A Narrow One, And It Is Only The Immortals That Seek It, And, When They Find It, Do Not Find Themselves Cramped Therein.
Nature
Path
All Share In The Government Of The World Was Denied For Centuries To Perhaps The Ablest, Certainly The Most Tenacious Race That Had Ever Lived In It
Race
Government
World
Violet! Sweet Violet! Thine Eyes Are Full Of Tears; Are They Wet Even Yet With The Thought Of Other Years?
Sweet
Eye
Years
To Genius Life Never Grows Commonplace.
Genius
Grows
Commonplace
It Is Beginning To Be Doubtful Whether Parliament And Congress Sit In Westminster And Washington, Or In The Editorial Rooms Of The Leading Journals,--so Thoroughly Is Everything Debated Before The Authorized And Responsible Debaters Get On Their Legs.
Legs
Rooms
Printing
The Rich Man's Sons Inherits Cares; The Bank May Break, The Factory Burn, A Breath May Burst His Bubble Shares, And Soft, White Hands Could Hardly Earn A Living That Would Serve His Turn.
Son
Men
White
Those Who Know The Truth Are Not Equal To Those Who Love It Confucius All Truth Is Safe And Nothing Else Is Safe, But He Who Keeps Back Truth, Or Withholds It From Men, From Motives Of Expediency, Is Either A Coward Or A Criminal.
Love
Truth
Men
New Conditions Of Life Will Stimulate Thought And Give New Forms To Its Expression.
Expression
Giving
Form
Imagination, Where It Is Truly Creative, Is A Faculty, And Not A Quality; It Looks Before And After, It Gives The Form That Makes All The Parts Work Together Harmoniously Toward A Given End, Its Seat Is In The Higher Reason, And It Is Efficient Only As A Servant Of The Will. Imagination, As It Is Too Often Misunderstood, Is Mere Fantasy, The Image-making Power, Common To All Who Have The Gift Of Dreams.
Dream
Giving
Imagination
All Free Governments, Whatever Their Name, Are In Reality Governments By Public Opinion ; And It Is On The Quality Of This Public Opinion That Their Prosperity Depends. It Is, Therefore, Their First Duty To Purify The Element From Which They Draw The Breath Of Life.
Reality
Government
Names
Freedom Needs All Her Poets; It Is They Who Give Her Aspirations Wings, And To The Wiser Law Of Music Sway Her Wild Imaginings.
Freedom
Law
Wings
Heaven Is Neither Here Nor There To Me. Everywhere And Nowhere. Just Not In Between, But I Believe In Heaven.
Believe
Heaven
I Believe
The Don Quixote Of One Generation May Live To Hear Himself Called The Savior Of Society By The Next.
Society
Generations
May
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


Trending Author
Stephane Hessel
Daniel Hannan
Paul Newman
David Allan Coe
Richard Scarry
Ram Dass
Category
Information