No life
Can be pure in its purpose or strong in its strife
And all life not read more

No life
Can be pure in its purpose or strong in its strife
And all life not be purer and stronger thereby.

There is no such thing as a good influence. Because to influence a person is to give him one's own read more

There is no such thing as a good influence. Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtures are not real to him. His sins, if there are such thing as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.

Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.

Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.

Spontaneously to God should turn the soul,
Like the magnetic needle to the pole;
But what were read more

Spontaneously to God should turn the soul,
Like the magnetic needle to the pole;
But what were that intrinsic virtue worth,
Suppose some fellow, with more zeal than knowledge,
Fresh from St. Andrew's College,
Should nail the conscious needle to the north?

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.

O may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made read more

O may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
For miserable aims that end with self.
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,
And with their mild persistence urge man's search
To vaster issues.

He who influences the thoughts of his times, influences all the times that follow. He has made his impress on read more

He who influences the thoughts of his times, influences all the times that follow. He has made his impress on eternity.

Lay ye down the golden chain
From Heaven, and pull at its inferior links
Both Goddesses and read more

Lay ye down the golden chain
From Heaven, and pull at its inferior links
Both Goddesses and Gods.

Nor ease nor peace that heart can know,
That like the needle true,
Turns at the touch read more

Nor ease nor peace that heart can know,
That like the needle true,
Turns at the touch of joy or woe;
But turning, trembles too.