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The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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More quotes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

Kavanagh: A Tale (1849)

They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast,
And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest.

Thy fate is the common fate of all;
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

Ballads and Other Poems (1842)

Music is the universal language of mankind — poetry their universal pastime and delight.

Outre-Mer (1835)

Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.

Kavanagh: A Tale (1849)

All Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quotes →

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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

James Howell English Proverbs (1659)

When we see a great man desiring power instead of his real goal we soon recognize that he is sick, or more precisely that his attitude to his work is sick.

Martin Buber What is Man? (1938)

The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.

Robert Frost A Boy's Will (1913)

In a society such as ours, it is almost impossible for a person to be responsible.

Jacques Ellul The Betrayal by Technology (1993)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.