O. Henry Quotes

The blossom cannot tell what becomes of its odor, and no person can tell what becomes of his or her influence and example.

Let parents who hate their offspring rear them to hate labor, and to inherit riches; and before long they will be stung by every vice, racked by its poison, and damned by its penalty.

A man in the right, with God on his side, is in the majority, though he be alone, for God is multitudinous above all populations of the earth.

It is not in the nature of true greatness to be exclusive and arrogant.

In the early ages men ruled by strength; now they rule by brain, and so long as there is only one man in the world who can think and plan, he will stand head and shoulders above him who cannot.

If you want your neighbor to know what Christ will do for him, let the neighbor see what Christ has done for you.

We not only live among men, but there are airy hosts, blessed spectators, sympathetic lookers-on, that see and know and appreciate our thoughts and feelings and acts.

The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees worlds beyond; but, if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that.

Ah, to build, to build! That is the noblest of all the arts.

And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain was the silence.

I saw the long line of the vacant shore, The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand, And the brown rocks left bare on every hand, As if the ebbing tide would flow no more.

In ourselves are triumph and defeat.

One, if by land, and two, if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm For the country folk to be up and to arm.

Our pleasures and our discontents, Are rounds by which we may ascend.

Many readers judge of the power of a book by the shock it gives their feelings.

God is not dead; nor doth He sleep; ... The wrong shall fail, The right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.

The natural alone is permanent.

Never idle a moment, but thrifty and thoughtful of others.

History casts its shadow far into the land of song.

All things are symbols: the external shows Of Nature have their image in the mind , As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves.

Some poems are like the Centaurs--a mingling of man and beast, and begotten of Ixion on a cloud.

I know not how it is, but during a voyage I collect books as a ship does barnacles.

It is the heart and not the brain, That to the highest doth attain.

The prayer of Ajax was for light.

From labor there shall come forth rest.

A solid man of Boston; A comfortable man with dividends, And the first salmon and the first green peas.

Bell, thou soundest merrily, When the bridal party To the church doth hie! Bell, thou soundest solemnly, When, on Sabbath morning, Fields deserted lie!

Sweet April! many a thought Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed; Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought, Life's golden fruit is shed.

There is nothing perfectly secure but poverty.

A noble type of good. Heroic womanhood.

Even cities have their graves!

The greatest firmness is the greatest mercy.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; The day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveler to the shore, And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Evil is only good perverted.

And the bright faces of my young companions Are wrinkled like my own, or are no more.

All your strength is in union, all your danger is in discord.

Sail on ship of state, sail on, I union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, with all its hopes of future years, is hanging on thy fate!

But the good deed, through the ages Living in historic pages, Brighter grows and gleams immortal, Unconsumed by moth or rust.

The young may die, but the old must!

They, the holy ones and weakly, Who the cross of suffering bore, Folded their pale hands so meekly, Spake with us on earth no more!

How in the turmoil of life can love stand, Where there is not one heart, and one mouth and one hand.

What shall I say to you? What can I say Better than silence is?

The rapture of pursuing is the prize the vanquished gain.

There's not a ship that sails the ocean, But every climate, every soil, Must bring its tribute, great or small, And help to build the wooden wall!

Fortune comes well to all that comes not late.

The picture that approaches sculpture nearest Is the best picture.

My designs and labors and aspirations are my only friends.

Peace! and no longer from its brazen portals The blast of War's great organ shakes the skies! But beautiful as songs of the immortals, The holy melodies of love arise.

Standing, with reluctant feet, Where the brook and river meet, Womanhood and childhood fleet!

Races, better than we, have leaned on her wavering promise, Having naught else but Hope.