200 Quotes by Henry Van Dyke

As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.

Every country-or at least every country that is fit for habitation-has its own rivers; and every river has its own quality; and it is the part of wisdom to know and love as many as you can, seeing each in the fairest possible light, and receiving from each the best that it has to give.

It is with rivers as it is with people: the greatest are not always the most agreeable nor the best to live with.

No matter what theory of the origin of government you adopt, if you follow it out to its legitimate conclusions it will bring you face to face with the moral law.

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.

One truly affectionate soul in a family will evert a sweetening and harmonizing influence upon all its members.

There are two good rules which ought to be written on every heart - never to believe anything bad about anybody unless you positively know it to be true; never to tell even that unless you feel that it is absolutely necessary, and that God is listening.

I heard through the nightThe rush and the clamour;The pulse of the fightLike blows of Thor's hammer;The pattering flightOf the leaves, and the anguishedMoan of the forest vanquished.

There is only one way to get ready for immortality, and that is to love this life and live it as bravely and faithfully and cheerfully as we can.