Quotes from James Russell Lowell

O visionary world, condition strange, Where naught abiding is but only change.

The time is ripe, and rotten-ripe, for change; then let it come.

Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never happen.

Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is a temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship.

In creating, the only hard thing's to begin; A grass-blade's no easier to make than an oak.

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.

Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge.

Not failure, but low aim, is crime.

Whom the heart of man shuts out, Sometimes the heart of God takes in.

The mind can weave itself warmly in the cocoon of its own thoughts, and dwell a hermit anywhere.

Good luck is the willing handmaid of upright, energetic character, and conscientious observance of duty.

The devil loves nothing better than the intolerance of reformers.

Let us be of good cheer, remembering that misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.

And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays.

Each day the world is born anew for him who takes it rightly.

One day, with life and heart, is more than time enough to find a world.

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.

The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.

A ginooine statesman should be on his guard, if he must hev beliefs, not to b'lieve 'em too hard.

Pride and weakness are Siamese twins.

Blessed are they who have nothing to say, and who cannot be persuaded to say it.

They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three.

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.

In general those who nothing have to say Contrive to spend the longest time in doing it.