583 quotes
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.
Poems (1847)
This is the value of the Communities; not what they have done, but the revolution which they indicate as on the way.
The Young American (1844)
Classics which at home are drowsily read have a strange charm in a country inn, or in the transom of a merchant brig.
English Traits (1856)
Though I am weak, yet God, when prayed,
Cannot withhold his conquering aid.
Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.
Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1883)
Not from a vain or shallow thought
His awful Jove young Phidias brought.
Poems (1847)
For the prevision is allied
Unto the thing so signified;
Or say, the foresight that awaits
Is the same Genius that creates.
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
In the vaunted works of Art
The master stroke is Nature's part.
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
None shall rule but the humble,
And none but Toil shall have.
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony.
The wise man … needs no bribe or feast or palace to draw friends to him. He is supremely fair. He angles with himself and with no other bait.
No book was ever written down by any but itself.
It will never make any difference to a hero what the laws are. His greatness will shine and accomplish itself unto the end, whether they second him or not.
The Conservative (1841)
As we grow old....the beauty turns inward.
I think no virtue goes with size;
The reason of all cowardice
Is, that men are overgrown,
And, to be valiant, must come down
To the titmouse dimension.
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
Blessed are those who have no talent!
Journals (1822)
Pictures must not be too picturesque.
Self-trust is the essence of heroism.
We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.
Common sense is as rare as genius.