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Influence: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
For witnesses, like watches, go Just as they're set, too fast or slow; And, where in Conscience they're strait-lac'd, 'Tis ten to one that side is cast.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto III. L. 361.
For no Act of a man, no Thing (how much less the man himself!) is extinguished when it disappears: through considerable time it still visibly works, though done and vanished.— CARLYLE — Essays. The Diamond Necklace. Ch. XIV.
The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.— CARLYLE — Essays.
Varnhagen von Ense's Memoirs. Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is affected by the licentious passions and vices of great men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.— CICERO
He raised a mortal to the skies; She drew an angel down.— DRYDEN — Alexander's Feast. L. 169.
Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another.— GEORGE ELIOT — Janet's Repentance. Ch. XIX.
O may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence; live In pulses stirred to generosity, In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn For miserable aims that end with self. In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge man's search To vaster issues.— GEORGE ELIOT — O May I Join the Choir
Invisible. Nor knowest thou what argument Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent, All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone. S.— EMERSON — Each and All.
'Tis Lilith. Who? Adam's first wife is she. Beware the lure within her lovely tresses, The splendid sole adornment of her hair; When she succeeds therewith a youth to snare, Not soon again she frees him from her jesses.— GOETHE — Faust. Sc. XXI. Walpurgis
Night. Bayard Taylor's trans. He spake, and into every heart his words Carried new strength and courage.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. V. L. 586.
Bryant's trans. No action, whether foul or fair, Is ever done, but it leaves somewhere A record, written by fingers ghostly, As a blessing or a curse, and mostly In the greater weakness or greater strength Of the acts which follow it.— LONGFELLOW — Christus. The Golden Legend. Pt. II. A Village Church.
So when a great man dies, For years beyond our ken, The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men.— LONGFELLOW — Charles Sumner. St. 9.
The very room, coz she was in, Seemed warm f'om floor to ceilin'.— LOWELL — The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'. St. 6.
You've got to save your own soul first, and then the souls of your neighbors if they will let you; and for that reason you must cultivate, not a spirit of criticism, but the talents that attract people to the hearing of the Word.— GEO. MACDONALD — The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. XXVII.
No life Can be pure in its purpose or strong in its strife And all life not be purer and stronger thereby. OWEN MEREDITH (Lord Lytton)- Lucile. Pt. II. Canto VI. St. 40. friend . Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 390.
Such souls, Whose sudden visitations daze the world, Vanish like lightning, but they leave behind A voice that in the distance far away Wakens the slumbering ages.— SIR HENRY TAYLOR — Philip Van Artevelde. Pt. I. Act 1. Sc. 7.
I am a part of all that I have met.— TENNYSON — Ulysses. L. 18.
I thank God that if I am gifted with little of the spirit which is said to be able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit, which would drag angels down.— DANIEL WEBSTER — Second Speech on
Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. It is very true that I have said that I considered Napoleon's presence in the field equal to forty thousand men in the balance. This is a very loose way of talking; but the idea is a very different one from that of his presence at a battle being equal to a reinforcement of forty thousand men.— DUKE OF WELLINGTON — Memorandum.
Sept. 18, 1836. Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves Of their bad influence, and their good receives.— WORDSWORTH — Character of the Happy
Si possem sanior essem. Sed trahit invitam nova vis; aliudque Cupido, Mens aliud. If it were in my power, I would be wiser; but a newly felt power carries me off in spite of myself; love leads me one way, my understanding another.— OVID — Metamorphoses. VII. 18.
Casta ad virum matrona parendo imperat. A virtuous wife when she obeys her husband obtains the command over him.— SYRUS — Maxims.