Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul Part 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 me 'Tis only n.o.ble to be good; Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.

--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.