American poet (1807-1882)
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"A Psalm of Life"
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Christmas Bells"
Well I know the secret places,
And the nests in hedge and tree;
At what doors are friendly faces,
In what hearts are thoughts of me.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Bridge of Cloud"
A great sorrow, like a mariner's quadrant, brings the sun at noon down to the horizon, and we learn where we are on the sea of life.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!
Descend with broad-winged flight,
The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,
The best-beloved Night!
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Hymn to the Night"
The happy should not insist too much upon their happiness in the presence of the unhappy.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
My soul is full of longing
for the secret of the sea,
and the heart of the great ocean
sends a thrilling pulse through me.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Secret of the Sea"
O summer day beside the joyous sea!
O summer day so wonderful and white,
So full of gladness and so full of pain!
Forever and forever shalt thou be
To some the gravestone of a dead delight,
To some the landmark of a new domain.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"A Summer Day by the Sea"
Stronger than steel is the sword of the Spirit;
Swifter than arrows, the light of the truth.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Nun of Nidaros", Tales of a Wayside Inn
Mlle. Mars must not be judged more strictly than other French women -- for all French women are naughty women: -- as a general rule. To be sure there are exceptions -- for the Duchess D'Angouleme not only prays for the remission of her own sins but also for those of the Duchess Berry -- who takes pleasure where she can find it and not content with keeping the Arch Bishop of Paris, she puts all the "Garde du corps" under severe contribution.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
letter to Patrick Greenleaf, October 23, 1826
Each new epoch in life seems an encounter. There is a tussle and a cloud of dust, and we come out of it triumphant or crest-fallen, according as we have borne ourselves.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
More and more do I feel, as I advance in life, how little we really know of each other. Friendship seems to me like the touch of musical-glasses--it is only contact; but the glasses themselves, and their contents, remain quite distinct and unmingled.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
Youth wrenches the sceptre from old age, and sets the crown on its own head before it is entitled to it.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk