James Russell Lowell

All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.

They are slaves who fear to speak,
For the fallen and the weak.

Blessed are they who have nothing to say and who cannot be persuaded to say it.

Folks never understand the folks they hate.

There is no good arguing with the inevitible. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.

A poet must need be before his own age, to be even with posterity.

Truth, after all, wears a different face to everybody, and it would be too tedious to wait till all were agreed.

Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.

- James Russell Lowell