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Quotations by James Russell Lowell 66 Found Born: Monday, February 22, 1819 A great man is made up of qualities that meet or make great occasions. A weed is no more than a flower in disguise, Which is seen through at once, if love give a man eyes. All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action. An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run. And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days. 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. Blessed are they who have nothing to say and who cannot be persuaded to say it. Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. Children are God's Apostles, sent forth, day by day, to preach of love, and hope, and peace. Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship. Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found. Death is delightful. Death is dawn, The waking from a weary night Of fevers unto truth and light. Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. Democracy is the form of government that gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. Each day the world is born anew for him who takes it rightly. 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. Every person born into this world their work is born with them. Fate loves the fearless. Folks never understand the folks they hate. Fortune is the rod of the weak, and the staff of the brave. Freedom is the only law which genius knows. Good luck is the willing handmaid of a upright and 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. He who is firmly seated in authority soon learns to think security, and not progress, the highest lesson in statecraft. I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife. If youth be a defect, it is one that we outgrow only too soon. In creating, the only hard thing is to begin: a grass blade's no easier to make than an oak. In the ocean of baseness, the deeper we get, the easier the sinking. Incredulity robs us of many pleasures, and gives us nothing in return. It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of man is tested. It is the privilege of genius that life never grows common place, as it does for the rest of us. Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how. Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come. Light is the symbol of truth. Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle. No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself. Not failure, but low aim, is crime. On one issue at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women. Once to every person and nation come the moment to decide. In the conflict of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side. One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning. 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. Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit. Sincerity is impossible, unless it pervade the whole being, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of character. Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character. Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that day, which must be done, whether you like it or not. The eye is the notebook of the poet. The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions. The greatest homage we can pay to truth, is to use it. The heart forgets its sorrow and ache.
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