James Russell Lowell
American poet, essayist and diplomat, 1819-1891
23 quotes.
Quotes by James Russell Lowell
- A sneer is the weapon of the weak. Like other devil's weapons, it is always cunningly ready to our hand, and there is more poison in the handle than in the point.
- Be noble! And the nobleness that lies in other men, sleeping but never dead, will rise in majesty to meet thine own.
- Endurance is the crowning quality,And patience all the passion of great hearts.
- Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
- Good luck is the willing handmaid of upright, energetic character, and conscientious observance of duty.
- Greatly begin! Though thou have time But for a line, be that sublime—Not failure, but low aim is crime.
- It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
- It is the vain endeavour to make ourselves what we are not that has strewn history with so many broken purposes and lives left in the rough.
- Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never happen.
- No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.
- No man is born into this 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.
- Not failure, but low aim, is a crime.
- Sincerity is impossible unless it pervades the whole being; and the pretence saps the very foundations of character.
- Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose power a man is.
- That cause is strong which has not a multitude, but one strong man behind it.
- The greater danger lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
- The way to be original is to be healthy.
- The years have taught some sweet, some bitter lessons--none wiser than this: to spend in all things else, but of old friends to be most miserly.
- There is no good in arguing with the inevitable.
- There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your great coat.
- Wealth may be an excellent thing, for it means power, leisure, and liberty.
- When will poets learn that a grass-blade of their own raising is worth a barrow load of flowers from their neighbor’s garden?
- Words, money, all things else, are comparatively easy to give away; but when a man makes a gift of his daily life and practice, it is plain that the truth, whatever it may be, has taken possession of him.