Famous Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Quotations

First 1 Last 
"All things must change to something new, to something strange."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticized."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"To be seventy years old is like climbing the Alps. You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles and miles away, and before you other summits higher and whiter, which you may have strength to climb, or may not. Then you sit down and meditate and wonder which it will be."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Thy fate is the common fate of all; Into each life some rain must fall."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Thought takes man out of servitude, into freedom."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"You know I say just what I think, and nothing more and less. I cannot say one thing and mean another."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. In is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future, without fear, and a manly heart."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Ah, to build, to build! That is the noblest art of all the arts. Painting and sculpture are but images, are merely shadows cast by outward things on stone or canvas, having in themselves no separate existence. Architecture, existing in itself, and not in seeming a something it is not, surpasses them as substance shadow."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"‘Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art; to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.’"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"A torn jacket is soon mended but hard words bruise the heart of a child."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Age is opportunity no less than youth itself."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"All the means of action -- the shapeless masses -- the materials -- lie everywhere about us. What we need is the celestial fire to change the flint into the transparent crystal, bright and clear. That fire is genius.''"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"All the means of action - the shapeless masses - the materials - lie everywhere about us. What we need is the celestial fire to change the flint into the transparent crystal, bright and clear. That fire is genius."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Doubtless criticism was originally benignant, pointing out the beauties of a work rather that its defects. The passions of men have made it malignant, as a bad heart of Procrustes turned the bed, the symbol of repose, into an instrument of torture."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Give what you have. To some it may be better than you dare think."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Give what you have to somebody, it may be better than you think."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"He that respects himself is safe from others. He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"I stood on the bridge at midnight, / As the clocks were striking the hour."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"If I am not worth the wooing, I am surely not worth the winning."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm any hostility."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Into each life some rain must fall."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"It is curious to note the old sea-margins of human thought. Each subsiding century reveals some new mystery; we build where monsters used to hide themselves."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"It takes less time to do things right than to explain why you did it wrong."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Know how sublime a thing is to suffer and be strong."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Learn to labour and to wait."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate Still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Let us, then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Life is real! Life is earnest! And death is not its goal. Dust thou art, to dust returneth, was not spoken of the soul."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Life is real Life is earnest And the grave is not its goal Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Love gives itself; it is not bought."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Method is more important than strength, when you wish to control your enemies. By dropping golden beads near a snake, a crow once managed To have a passer-by kill the snake for the beads."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as a blazing meteor when it descends to earth, is only a stone."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Sometimes we may learn more from a man's errors, than from his virtues."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted,
If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters returning
Back to their springs, like the rain shall fill them full of refreshment;
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted, If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters returning Back to their springs, like the rain shall fill them full of refreshment That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Talk not of wasted affection affection never was wasted."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Tell me not, in mournful numbers,Life is but an empty dreamFor the soul is dead that slumbers,and things are not what they seem.Life is real Life is earnestAnd the grave is not its goalDust thou art to dust returnest,Was not spoken of the soul."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The adoration of his heart had been to her only as the perfume of a wild flower, which she had carelessly crushed with her foot in passing."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The course of my long life hath reached at last in fragile bark over a tempestuous sea the common harbor, where must rendered be account for all the actions of the past."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The counterfeit and counterpart of nature are reproduced in art."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The holiest of holidays are those Kept by ourselves in silence and apart The secret anniversaries of the heart."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The morning pouring everywhere, its golden glory on the air."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The secret anniversaries of the heart."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The shades of night were falling fast,As though an Alpine village passedA youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,A banner with the strange device,ExcelsiorHis brow was sad his eye beneath,Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,And like a silver clarion rungThe accents of that unknown tongue,Excelsior"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The shades of night were falling fast, / As through an Alpine village passed / A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, / A banner with the strange device, / Excelsior!"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The strength of criticism lies only in the weakness of the thing criticized"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"There is a Reaper whose name is Death, / And, with his sickle keen, / He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, / And the flowers that grow between."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"To say the least, a town life makes one more tolerant and liberal in one's judgement of others."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"To which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Trust no future, however pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead! Act, act in the living present! Heart within and God overhead."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Trust no future, however pleasant Let the dead past bury its dead Act, - act in the living Present Heart within and God overhead."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"We judge ourselves by what we are capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"We see but dimly through the mists and vapors Amid these earthly damps What seem to us but sad, funeral tapers May be heaven's distant lamps."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Build today, then strong and sure, With a firm and ample base; And ascending and secure. Shall tomorrow find its place."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"For age is opportunity no less than youth itself, though in another dress, and as the evening twilight fades away, the sky is filled with stars, invisible by day."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"I venerate old age; and I love not the man who can look without emotion upon the sunset of life, when the dusk of evening begins to gather over the watery eye, and the shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper upon the understanding."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Age is opportunity no less, than youth itself, though in another dress. And as the evening twilight fades away, The sky is filled by the stars invisible by the day."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Whatever poet, orator, or sage may say of it, old age is still old age."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Write on your doors the saying wise and old. Be bold! and everywhere -- Be bold; Be not too bold! Yet better the excess Than the defect; better the more than less sustaineth him and the steadiness of his mind beareth him out."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Doubtless criticism was originally benignant, pointing out the beauties of a work rather that its defects. The passions of men have made it malignant, as a bad heart of Procreates turned the bed, the symbol of repose, into an instrument of torture."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Critics are sentinels in the grand army of letters, stationed at the corners of newspapers and reviews, to challenge every new author."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Trouble is the next best thing to enjoyment. There is no fate in the world so horrible as to have no share in either its joys or sorrows."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Into each life some rain must fall, some days be dark and dreary."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"One half the world must sweat and groan that the other half may dream."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The world loves a spice of wickedness."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Yes, we must ever be friends; and of all who offer you friendship Let me be ever the first, the truest, the nearest and dearest!"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroken; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Joy, temperance, and repose, slam the door on the doctor's nose."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"You shall hear how Hiawatha prayed and fasted in the forest, Not for greater skill in hunting, Not for greater craft in fishing, Not for triumphs in the battle, And renown among the warriors, But for profit of the people, For advantage of the nations."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The rapture of pursuing is the prize the vanquished gain."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"No literature is complete until the language it was written in is dead."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The mind of the scholar, if he would leave it large and liberal, should come in contact with other minds."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Like a French poem is life; being only perfect in structure when with the masculine rhymes mingled the feminine are."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The shades of night were falling fast, As though an Alpine village passed A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, A banner with the strange device, Excelsior! His brow was sad; his eye beneath, Flashed like a falchion from its sheath, And like a silver clarion rung The accents of that unknown tongue, Excelsior!"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Intelligence and courtesy not always are combined; Often in a wooden house a golden room we find."
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Silently, one by one,in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels"
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Hire a Writer