American poet (1807-1882)
O little souls! as pure as white
And crystalline as rays of light
Direct from heaven, their source divine;
Refracted through the mist of years,
How red my setting sun appears,
How lurid looks this soul of mine!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Weariness"
Ah! vainest of all things
Is the gratitude of kings.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Belisarius
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"
Silence is a great peacemaker.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Evangeline
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"
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
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"
Down to the Plymouth Rock, that had been to their feet as a doorstep
Into a world unknown -- the cornerstone of a nation!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Courtship of Miles Standish"
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
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
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
Who dares to say that he alone has found the truth?
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
The New England Tragedies
Every man is in some sort a failure to himself. No one ever reaches the heights to which he aspires.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
The first pressure of sorrow crushes out from our hearts the best wine; afterwards the constant weight of it brings forth bitterness, -- the taste and stain from the lees of the vat.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
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"
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Morituri Salutamus", Poems and Other Writings
I know not how it is, but during a voyage I collect books as a ship does barnacles.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Charles Sumner, September 17, 1842
Burn, O evening hearth, and waken
Pleasant visions, as of old!
Though the house by winds be shaken,
Safe I keep this room of gold!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Bridge of Cloud"