James Russell Lowell quotes
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891): American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. The library holds 181 quotes by James Russell Lowell, drawn from The Biglow Papers. First Series, The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin’, The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to and other works. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, faith, truth, nature, creativity, time
The best-known James Russell Lowell quotes
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Before man made us citizens, great Nature made us men.
On the Capture of Fugitive Slaves near Washington -
No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. There is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil.
A Glance behind the Curtain -
’Tis heaven alone that is given away; ’Tis only God may be had for the asking.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First -
Earth’s noblest thing,—a woman perfected.
Irené -
Endurance is the crowning quality, And patience all the passion of great hearts.
Columbus -
Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.
Sonnet iv -
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.
The Present Crisis -
Great truths are portions of the soul of man; Great souls are portions of eternity.
Sonnet vi -
There comes Emerson first, whose rich words, every one, Are like gold nails in temples to hang trophies on.
A Fable for Critics -
Wut’s words to them whose faith an’ truth On war’s red techstone rang true metal; Who ventered life an’ love an’ youth For the gret prize o’ death in battle?
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. x -
From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature’s text; And embryo Good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the Evil in its nature.
Festina Lente. Moral -
Under the yaller pines I house, When sunshine makes ’em all sweet-scented, An’ hear among their furry boughs The baskin’ west-wind purr contented.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. x -
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it; We are happy now because God wills it.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First -
No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him.
A Glance Behind the Curtain -
And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First -
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists -
Gineral C. is a dreffle smart man; He’s ben on all sides thet give places or pelf; But consistency still wuz a part of his plan,—He’s ben true to one party, an’ thet is himself.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. ii -
Safe in the hallowed quiets of the past.
The Cathedral -
In life’s small things be resolute and great To keep thy muscle trained: know’st thou when Fate Thy measure takes, or when she’ll say to thee, “I find thee worthy; do this deed for me”?
Epigram -
The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers, is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.
My Study Windows. Abraham Lincoln, 1864 -
Life is the jailer, death the angel sent to draw the unwilling bolts and set us free.
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Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,—Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.
The Vision of Sir Launfal, Part Second. viii -
Two meanings have our lightest fantasies,—One of the flesh, and of the spirit one.
Sonnet xxxiv -
There is no work of genius which has not been the delight of mankind, no word of genius to which the human heart and soul have not sooner or later responded.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists -
In all literary history there is no such figure as Dante, no such homogeneousness of life and works, such loyalty to ideas, such sublime irrecognition of the unessential.
Among my Books. Second Series. Dante -
What a sense of security in an old book which Time has criticised for us!
Library of Old Authors -
With every anguish of our earthly part the spirit’s sight grows clearer; this was meant when Jesus touched the blind man’s lids with clay.
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Talent is that which is in a man’s power; genius is that in whose power a man is.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists -
Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.
Among my Books. First Series. Dryden -
One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.
Among my Books. First Series. Shakespeare Once More -
No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists -
A wise scepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.
Among my Books. First Series. Shakespeare Once More -
The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.
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Large charity doth never soil, but only whiten, soft white hands.
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In vain we call old notions fudge, And bend our conscience to our dealing; The Ten Commandments will not budge, And stealing will continue stealing.
Motto of the American Copyright League (written Nov. 20, 1885) -
And Death is beautiful as feet of friend Coming with welcome at our journey’s end.
To George William Curtis -
When I could not sleep for cold I had fire enough in my brain, And builded with roofs of gold My beautiful castles in Spain!
Aladdin -
These pearls of thought in Persian gulfs were bred, Each softly lucent as a rounded moon; The diver Omar plucked them from their bed, Fitzgerald strung them on an English thread.
In a copy of Omar Khayyám -
The right to be a cussed fool Is safe from all devices human, It’s common (ez a gin’l rule) To every critter born of woman.
The Biglow Papers, Second Series, No. 7 -
Ez to my princerples, I glory In hevin’ nothin’ o’ the sort.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. vii -
They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak… They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three.
Stanzas on Freedom -
The thing we long for, that we are For one transcendent moment.
Longing -
They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three.
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All kin’ o’ smily round the lips, An’ teary round the lashes.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin’ -
She doeth little kindnesses Which most leave undone, or despise.
My Love. iv -
Earth’s biggest country’s gut her soul, An’ risen up earth’s greatest nation.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. vii -
Zekle crep’ up quite unbeknown An’ peeked in thru’ the winder, An’ there sot Huldy all alone, ‘Ith no one nigh to hender.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin’ -
The clear, sweet singer with the crown of snow Not whiter than the thoughts that housed below.
To George William Curtis -
For whom the heart of man shuts out, Straightway the heart of God takes in, And fences them all round about With silence ’mid the world’s loud din.
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Ez fer war, I call it murder,—There you hev it plain an’ flat; I don’t want to go no furder Than my Testyment fer that… An’ you’ve gut to git up airly Ef you want to take in God.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. i -
The Holy Supper is kept indeed In whatso we share with another’s need; Not what we give, but what we share, For the gift without the giver is bare.
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Here was a type of the true elder race, And one of Plutarch’s men talked with us face to face.
Ode at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865 -
Freedom needs all her poets; it is they Who give her aspirations wings, And to the wiser law of music sway Her wild imaginings.
To the Memory of Hood -
Dear common flower, that grow’st beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold.
To the Dandelion -
Ez fer war, I call it murder,—There you hev it plain an’ flat; I don’t want to go no furder Than my Testyment fer that.
The Biglow Papers, First Series, No. I -
All thoughts that mould the age begin Deep down within the primitive soul.
An Incident in a Railroad Car -
Evil springs up, and flowers, and bears no seed, And feeds the green earth with its swift decay, Leaving it richer for the growth of truth.
Prometheus -
In general those who nothing have to say Contrive to spend the longest time in doing it.
An Oriental Apologue -
Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side.
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It may be glorious to write Thoughts that shall glad the two or three High souls, like those far stars that come in sight Once in a century.
An Incident in a Railroad Car
Where these quotes come from
- The Biglow Papers. First Series (6 quotes)
- The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin’ (6 quotes)
- The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to (5 quotes)
- A Fable for Critics (5 quotes)
- The Biglow Papers. Second Series (5 quotes)
- Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists (5 quotes)
- Among my Books. First Series. New England Two Centuries ago (5 quotes)
- Sonnet (4 quotes)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .