Quotes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service

Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.

Into each life some rain must fall.

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.

For 'tis sweet to stammer one letter Of the Eternal's language; - on earth it is called Forgiveness!

Resolve and thou art free.

Not chance of birth or place has made us friends, Being oftentimes of different tongues and nations, But the endeavor for the selfsame ends, With the same hopes, and fears, and aspirations.

The story, from beginning to end, I found again in a heart of a friend.

The first pressure of sorrow crushes out from our hearts the best wine; afterwards the constant weight of it brings forth bitterness, the taste and strain from the lees of the vat.

All things must change To something new, to something strange.

Go forth to meet the shadowy Future without fear and with a manly heart.

Age is opportunity no less than youth itself.

I venerate old age; and I love not the man who can look without emotion upon the sunset of life, when the dusk of evening begins to gather over the watery eye, and the shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper upon the understanding.

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.

A feeling of sadness and longing, That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain.

Be still, sad heart! And cease repining; behind the clouds is the sun still shining; thy fate is the common fate of all, into each life some rain must fall

Love gives itself; it is not bought.

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels

It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun.

Yes, we must ever be friends; and of all who offer you friendship let me be ever the first, the truest, the nearest and dearest!

I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroken; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.

Ah, how good it feels! The hand of an old friend.

It is a beautiful trait in the lovers character, that they think no evil of the object loved.