James Russell Lowell on Anniversary
1819–1891 United States
← All quotes by James Russell Lowell
7 quotes
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
Literary Essays, vol. II (1870)
That love for one, from which there doth not spring
Wide love for all, is but a worthless thing.
His heart kep' goin' pity-pat,
But hern went pity-Zekle.
The Biglow Papers (1848)
We remain
Safe in the hallowed quiets of the past.
New times demand new measures and new men;
The world advances, and in time outgrows
The laws which in our father's times were best;
And doubtless, after us, some purer scheme
Will be shaped out by wiser men than we,
Made wiser by the steady growth of truth.
Poems (1844)
True love is but a humble, low born thing,
And hath its food served up in earthenware;
It is a thing to walk with, hand in hand,
Through the every-dayness of this workday world.
Not as all other women are
Is she that to my soul is dear;
Her glorious fancies come from far,
Beneath the silver evening star,
And yet her heart is ever near.