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Man's books are but a climbing stair,
Lain step by step, like stairs of stone;
The stairway here, the temple there —
Man's lampad honor, and his trust,
The God who called him from the dust.

— Joaquin Miller In Classic Shades, and Other Poems (1890)

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More quotes by Joaquin Miller

God can find a soul of beauty
Where it falls, as gems of worth
Are found by miners dark in earth.

Shadows of Shasta (1881)

That man who lives for self alone
Lives for the meanest mortal known.

The Building of the City Beautiful (1905)

The soul that feeds on books alone —
I count that soul exceeding small
That lives alone by book and creed,—
A soul that has not learned to read.

In Classic Shades, and Other Poems (1890)

Each gives to each, and like the star
Gets back its gift in tenfold pay.

The Building of the City Beautiful (1905)

This creature comes from out the dim
Far centuries, beyond the rim
Of time's remotest reach or stir.

The Ship in the Desert (1875)

All Joaquin Miller quotes →

Attribution

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