There is something solid and doughty in the man that can rise from defeat, the stuff of which victories are made in due time, when we are able to choose our position better, and the sun is at our back.
James Russell LowellMishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.
James Russell LowellTime is, after all, the greatest of poets; and the sons of Memory stand a better chance of being the heirs of Fame.
James Russell LowellThe time is ripe, and rotten-ripe, for change; Then let it come: I have no dread of what Is called for by the instinct of mankind. Nor think I that God's world would fall apart Because we tear a parchment more or less. Truth is eternal, but her effluence, With endless change, is fitted to the hour; Her mirror is turned forward, to reflect The promise of the future, not the past. I do not fear to follow out the truth.
James Russell Lowell