John Greenleaf Whittier Quotes

The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you.

God gives quietness at last.

The Present, the Present is all thou hastFor thy sure possessing;Like the patriarch’s angel hold it fastTill it gives its blessing.

Reason’s voice and God’s, Nature’s and Duty’s, never are at odds.

Freedom’s soil hath only place For a free and fearless race!

A bending staff I would not break,A feeble faith I would not shake,Nor even rashly pluck awayThe error which some truth may stay,Whose loss might leave the soul withoutA shield against the shafts of doubt.

If thou of fortune be bereft, and in thy store there be but left two loaves, sell one, and with the dole, buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

Heap high the farmer’s wintry hoard! Heap high the golden corn! No richer gift has Autumn poured From out her lavish horn!

We search the world for truth; we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful, From all old flower fields of the soul; And, weary seeker of the best, We come back laden from out quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read.

Simple duty hath no place for fear.

No longer forward or behind I look in hope or fear, But grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here.

Thine to work as well as pray, Clearing thorny wrongs away; Plucking up the weeds of sin, Letting heaven’s warm sunshine in.