Chapter 20
'Tis a lifelong toil till our lump be leaven.
The better! What's come to perfection perishes.
Things learned on earth we shall practice in heaven.
Work done least rapidly Art most cherishes.
--Robert Browning.
Let come what will, I mean to bear it out, And either live with glorious victory Or die with fame, renowned in chivalry.
He is not worthy of the honey-comb That shuns the hive because the bees have stings.
--William Shakespeare.
One by one thy duties wait thee, Let thy whole strength go to each.
Let no future dreams elate thee, Learn thou first what these can teach.
--Adelaide Anne Procter.
Give me heart-touch with all that live And strength to speak my word; But if that is denied me, give The strength to live unheard.
--Edwin Markham.
Honor and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honor lies
--Alexander Pope.
How wretched is the man with honors crowned, Who, having not the one thing needful found, Dies, known to all, but to himself unknown.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
He fought a thousand glorious wars, And more than half the world was his, And somewhere, now, in yonder stars, Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is.
--William Makepeace Thackeray.
Howe'er it be, it seems to
--Alfred Tennyson.
I've learned to prize the quiet, lightning deed, Not the applauding thunder at its heels Which men call fame.
--Alexander Smith.
It is worth while to live!
Be of good cheer; Love casts out fear; Rise up, achieve.
--Christina G. Rossetti.
No endeavor is in vain; Its reward is in the doing, And the rapture of pursuing Is the prize the vanquished gain.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Far better in its place the lowliest bird Should sing aright to Him the lowliest song, Than that a seraph strayed should take the word And sing His glory wrong.
--Jean Ingelow.
Often ornateness Goes with greatness.
Oftener felicity Comes of simplicity.
--William Watson.
A jewel is a jewel still, though lying in the dust, And sand is sand, though up to heaven by the tempest thrust.
--From the Persian.
Vulgar souls surpa.s.s a rare one in the headlong rush; As the hard and worthless stones a precious pearl will crush.
--From the Persian.
Be n.o.ble! and the n.o.bleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.
--James Russell Lowell.
The mean of soul are sure their faults to gloss, And find a secret gain in others' loss.
--John Boyle O'Reilly.
Ah, a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's heaven for?
--Robert Browning.
Though thy name be spread abroad, Like winged seed, from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e, What thou art before thy G.o.d, That thou art and nothing more.