Whittier

Famous quotes containing the word whittier:

    For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
    The saddest are these: “It might have been!”
    —John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

    Oh, for boyhood’s painless play,
    Sleep that wakes in laughing day,
    Health that mocks the doctor’s rules,
    Knowledge never learned of schools.
    —John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

    Yet here at least an earnest sense
    Of human right and weal is shown;
    A hate of tyranny intense,
    And hearty in its vehemence,
    As if my brother’s pain and sorrow were my own.

    O Freedom! if to me belong
    Nor mighty Milton’s gift divine,
    Nor Marvell’s wit and graceful song.
    Still with a love as deep and strong
    As theirs, I lay, like them, my best gifts on thy shrine!
    —John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)