James Russell Lowell on Character
1819–1891 United States
← All quotes by James Russell Lowell
10 quotes
It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
Abraham Lincoln (1864)
Endurance is the crowning quality,
And patience all the passion of great hearts.
Poems: Second Series (1848)
Soft-heartedness, in times like these,
Shows sof'ness in the upper story.
The Biglow Papers (1848)
Our Pilgrim stock wuz pethed with hardihood.
Thet tells the story! Thet's wut we shall git
By tryin' squirtguns on the burnin' Pit;
For the day never comes when it'll du
To kick on dooty like a worn-out shoe.
The Biglow Papers (1848)
For she was jes' the quiet kind
Whose naturs never vary,
Like streams that keep a summer mind
Snowhid in Jenooary.
All that hath been majestical
In life or death, since time began,
Is native in the simple heart of all,
The angel heart of man.
In vain we call old notions fudge,
And bend our conscience to our dealing;
The Ten Commandments will not budge,
And stealing will continue stealing.
His Nature's a glass of champagne with the foam on 't,
As tender as Fletcher, as witty as Beaumont;
So his best things are done in the flash of the moment.
Fable for Critics (1848)
For me Fate gave, whate'er she else denied,
A nature sloping to the southern side;
I thank her for it, though when clouds arise
Such natures double-darken gloomy skies.