Quotes from Joaquin Miller

The bravest battle that ever was fought; Shall I tell you where and when? On the maps of the world you will find it not; It was fought by the mothers of men.

Lonely as God, and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up sudden and solitary from the heart of the great black forests of Northern California

God's poet is silence! His song is unspoken, And yet so profound, so loud, and so far, It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken, And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star.

I saw the lightnings gleaming rod. Reach forth and write upon the sky The awful autograph of God.

All honor to him who shall win the prize. The world has cried for a thousand years. But to him who tries and fails and dies, I give great honor and glory and tears.

Behind him lay the gray Azores,Behind the Gates of Hercules;Before him not the ghost of shores,Before him only shoreless seas.

He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"

He gained a world; he gave that worldIts grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"

They are fair resting-places for the dear weary dead on their way up to heaven.

God's poet is silence! His song is unspoken And yet so profound, and so loud, and so far, That it thrills you and fills you in measures unbroken— The unceasing song of the first morning star....

There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love, - There is only one To-day.

Primeval forests! virgin sod! That Saxon has not ravish'd yet, Lo! peak on peak in stairways set— In stepping stairs that reach to God! Here we are free as sea or wind, For here are set Time's snowy tents In everlasting battlements Against the march of Saxon mind.

Tis midnight now. The bend and broken moon, Batter'd and black, as from a thousand battles, Hangs silent on the purple walls of Heaven.

Give a man five years, and, with unfortunate exceptions of course, he will find his level on the Pacific, and his place, whether high or low, as naturally as a stream of water.

Man's books are but a climbing stair, Lain step by step, like stairs of stone; The stairway here, the temple there - Man's lampad honor, and his trust, The God who called him from the dust.

There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love, There is only one To-day.

Men lie, who lack courage to tell truth--the cowards!

The biggest dog has been a pup.

"Brave admiral, say but one good word: What shall we do when hope is gone?" The words leapt like a leaping sword: "Sail on! sail on! and on!"

Knowledge is Bought only with a weary care, And wisdom means a world of pain.

In men whom men condemn as ill I find so much of goodness still, In men whom men pronounce divine I find so much of sin and blot, I do not dare to draw a line Between the two, where God has not.

Men say, "By pride the angels fell from heaven." By pride they reached a place from which they fell!

That man who lives for self alone, lives for the meanest mortal known.

But to him who tries and fails and dies I give great honor and glory and tears.