American poet (1807-1882)
Ah! vainest of all things
Is the gratitude of kings.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Belisarius
It is the heart and not the brain,
That to the highest doth attain.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Building of the Ship"
All your strength is in your union.
All your danger is in discord;
Therefore be at peace henceforward,
And as brothers live together.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Song of Hiawatha"
The architect
Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,
And with him toiled his children, and their lives
Were builded, with his own, into the walls,
As offerings unto God.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Christus: The Golden Legend
There rises the moon, broad and tranquil, through the branches of a walnut tree on a hill opposite. I apostrophize it in the words of Faust; "O gentle moon, that lookest for the last time upon my agonies!" --or something to that effect.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Charles Sumner, September 17, 1842
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained in sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upwards in the night.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Ladder of St. Augustine"
The men that women marry,
And why they marry them, will always be
A marvel and a mystery to the world.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Michael Angelo"
Sail forth into the sea of life,
O gentle, loving, trusting wife,
And safe from all adversity
Upon the bosom of that sea
Thy comings and thy goings be!
For gentleness and love and trust
Prevail o'er angry wave and gust;
And in the wreck of noble lives
Something immortal still survives.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Building of the Ship"
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"A Psalm of Life"
Ah! this beautiful world ... Indeed, I know not what to think of it. Sometimes it is all gladness and sunshine, and heaven itself lies not far off. And then it changes suddenly, and is dark and sorrowful, and clouds shut out the sky. In the lives of the saddest of us, there are bright days like this, when we feel as if we could take the great world in our arms. Then come the gloomy hours, when the fire will neither burn on our hearths nor in our hearts; and all without and within is dismal, cold, and dark.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Hyperion
Silence is a great peacemaker.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
Youth, hope, and love:
To build a new life on a ruined life,
To make the future fairer than the past,
And make the past appear a troubled dream.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
The Masque of Pandora
There in seclusion and remote from men
The wizard hand lies cold,
Which at its topmost speed let fall the pen,
And left the tale half told.
Ah! who shall lift that wand of magic power,
And the lost clew regain?
The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower
Unfinished must remain!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Hawthorne"
Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Evangeline
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted;
If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning
Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refreshment;
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Evangeline: A Tale of Acadia
Truths that startled the generation in which they were first announced become in the next age the commonplaces of conversation; as the famous airs of operas which thrilled the first audiences come to be played on hand-organs in the streets.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme,
Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay;
Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime,
For oh, it is not always May!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"It Is Not Always May"
I cannot believe any man can be perfectly well in body, who has much labor of the mind to perform.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Stephen Longfellow, September 17, 1842
I promise myself great pleasure from my visit to England. You know I am to stay with Dickens while in London; and beside his own very agreeable society, I shall enjoy that of the most noted literary men of the day, which will be a great gratification to me.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Stephen Longfellow, September 17, 1842