Great Throughts Treasury

"Human life is in constant want, and ought to be constant prayer."

"Labor! all labor is noble and holy! Let thy great deeds by thy prayer to thy God."

"Love is the greatest of educators."

"The wealth of rich feelings--the deep--the pure; With strength to meet sorrow, and faith to endure."

"An exile, ill in heart and frame,-- A wanderer, weary of the way;-- A stranger, without love's sweet claim on any heart, go where I may!"

"An angel face! ItÂ’s sunny "wealth of hair," in radiant ripples, bathed the graceful throat and dimpled shoulders."

"And wheresoever, in his rich creation, sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'tis but the faint and far reverberation of that great tune to which the planets roll!"

"And yet we check and chide the airy angels as they float about us, with rules of so-called wisdom, till they grow the same tame slaves to custom and the world."

"Beneath her drooping lashes slept a world of eloquent meaning; passionate but pure, dreamy, subdued, but, oh, how beautiful!"

"Better confide and be deceiv'd, a thousand times, by treacherous foes, than once accuse the innocent, or let suspicion mar repose."

"Call me names, dearest! Call me thy bird that flies to thy breast at one cherishing word, that folds its wild wings there, ne'er dreaming of flight, that tenderly sings there in loving delight! Oh! my sad heart keeps pining for one fond word,-- call me pet names, dearest! Call me thy bird!"

"Did you ever hear of the frolic fairies dear? They're a blessed little race, peeping up in fancy's face, in the valley, on the hill, by the fountain and the rill; laughing out between the leaves that the loving summer weaves."

"Give me the eloquent cheek, when blushes burn and die like thine its changes speak, the spirit's purity."

"Fancy is a fairy, that can hear ever, the melody of nature's voice, and see all lovely visions that she will."

"He whom nature thus bereaves, is ever fancy's favorite child; for thee enchanted dreams she weaves of changeful beauty, bright and wild."

"I cannot tell thee, hour by hour, that I adore thee dearly; I cannot talk of passion's power-- but oh! I feel sincerely!"

"I love a hand that meets my own with a grasp that causes some sensation."

"Labor is life! 'Tis the still water faileth; idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth; keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth."

"Labor, all labor, is noble and holy."

"Labor is rest from the sorrows that greet us; Rest from all petty vexations that meet us, Rest from sin-promptings that ever entreat us, Rest from world-sirens that lure us to ill."

"Lie not down wearied 'neath Woe's weeping willow; work with a stout heart and resolute will."

"Love is the loadstone of love."

"The violet thinks, with her timid blue eye, to pass for a blossom enchantingly shy."

"Thou wouldst be loved?--then let thy heart from its present pathway part not; being everything which now thou art, be nothing which thou art not. So with the world thy gentle ways, thy grace, thy more than beauty, shall be an endless theme of praise. And love a simple duty."

"Those laughing orbs, that borrow from azure-skies the light they wear, are like heaven--no sorrow can float o'er hues so fair."

"No grief so soft, no pain so sweet, as love's delicious melancholy."

"Within the oyster's shell uncouth the purest pearl may hide, trust me you'll find a heart of truth within that rough outside."

"The violet droops its soft and bashful brow, but from its heart sweet incense fills the air;-- so rich within--so pure without--art thou, with modest mien and soul of virtue rare."

"To hallow'd duty here with a loyal and heroic heart, bind we our lives."

"With strength to meet sorrow, and faith to endure."