Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Literature Part 37

--SHAKESPEARE

Never do anything of which you will have cause to be ashamed. There is one good opinion which is of the greatest importance to you, namely, your own. "An easy conscience", says Seneca, "is a continual feast".--LUBBOCK

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.

--SHAKESPEARE

Man is his own star, and the soul that can Render an honest and a perfect man, Commands all light, all influence, all fate, Nothing for him falls early or too late; Our acts our angels are, for good or ill; Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.

--BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar, Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From G.o.d who is our home.

--WORDSWORTH

Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer; Next day the fatal precedent will plead; Thus on, till-wisdom is pushed out of life.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled, And to the mercies of a moment leaves The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

--EDWARD YOUNG

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, n.o.bler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown sh.e.l.l by life's unresting sea.

--O. W. HOLMES

Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be, The last of life for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith, "A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust G.o.d: see all nor be afraid!"

--BROWNING

Were a star quenched on high, For ages would its light, Still travelling downward from the sky, s.h.i.+ne on our mortal sight.

So when a great man dies, For years beyond our ken, The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men.--LONGFELLOW

It is not growing like a tree In bulk doth make man better be; Or standing long, an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear.

A lily of a day Is fairer far in May, Although it fall and die that night-- It was the plant and flower of light.

In small proportions we just beauties see; And in short measures life may perfect be.

--BEN JONSON

We shape ourselves the joy or fear Of which the coming life is made, And fill our Future's atmosphere With suns.h.i.+ne or with shade.

The tissue of the Life to be, We weave with colours all our own; And in the field of Destiny We reap as we have sown.

--WHITTIER

Heaven is not reached at a single bound, But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit round by round.

I count this thing to be grandly true: That a n.o.ble deed is a step toward G.o.d,-- Lifting the soul from the common clod To a purer air and a broader view.

--J. G. HOLLAND

Let me but do my work from day to day In field or forest, at the desk or loom, In roaring market-place or tranquil room; Let me but find it in my heart to say, When vagrant wishes beckon me astray, "This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; Of all who live, I am the only one by whom The work can best be done in the right way."

--HENRY VAN d.y.k.e

Good name, in man or woman, dear, my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their soul.

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.

--SHAKESPEARE

G.o.d give us men! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands; Men whom the l.u.s.t of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honour,--men who will not lie.

--J. G. HOLLAND

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fas.h.i.+on; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages with open heart; await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common,--this is my symphony.--CHANNING

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 rect.i.tude, in scorn Of miserable aims that end with self, In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge men's minds To vaster issues.

--GEORGE ELIOT

A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pa.s.s into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

--KEATS

Sunset with its rosy feet Stains the gra.s.ses low and sweet; And the shadow-beeches softly fall Across the meadows, dark and tall; O fold away The dusty day, Sweet nightfall, in thy curtains gray.

--j.a.pANESE

Now fades the last long streak of snow, Now bourgeons every maze of quick About the flowering squares, and thick By ashen roots the violets blow.

Now rings the woodland loud and long, The distance takes a lovelier hue, And drowned in yonder living blue The lark becomes a sightless song.

--TENNYSON

A cloud lay cradled near the setting sun; A gleam of crimson tinged its braided snow; Long had I watched the glory moving on O'er the still radiance of the lake below.

Tranquil its spirit seemed, and floated slow!

Even in its very motion there was rest; While every breath of eve that chanced to blow Wafted the traveller to the beauteous west.

--WILSON