546 Quotes by James Russell Lowell

A father of the church said that property was theft, many centuries before Proudhon was born. Bourdaloue reaffirmed it. Montesquieu was the inventor of national workshops and of the theory that the state owed every man a living. Nay, was not the church herself the first organized democracy?

And the poorest twig on the elm-tree was ridged inch deep with pearl.

Tis easy now for the heart to be true As for grass to be green or skies to be blue-- 'Tis the natural way of living.

In the storm, like a prophet o’ermaddened, Thou singest and tossest thy branches; Thy heart with the terror is gladdened, Thou forebodest the dread avalanches.... In the calm thou o’erstretchest the valleys With thine arms, as if blessings imploring, Like an old king led forth from his palace, When his people to battle are pouring...

Christ was the first true democrat that ever breathed, as the old dramatist Dekkar said he was the first true gentleman.

All free governments, whatever their name, are in reality governments by public opinion ; and it is on the quality of this public opinion that their prosperity depends. It is, therefore, their first duty to purify the element from which they draw the breath of life.

Men's thoughts and opinions are in a great degree vassals of him who invents a new phrase or re-applies an old epithet. The thought or feeling a thousand times repeated becomes his at last who utters it best.

Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it, We are happy now because God so wills it; No matter how barren the past may have been, ’T is enough for us now that the leaves are green; We sit in the warm shade and feel right well How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell... The breeze comes whispering in our ear, That dandelions are blossoming near... Every thing is upward striving; ’T is as easy now for the heart to be true As for grass to be green or skies to be blue, — ’T is the natural way of living...

If the devil take a less hateful shape to us than to our fathers, he is as busy with us as with them.