faith quotes

  • He was ofthefaith chiefly inthesensethatthe churchhe currently did not attend was Catholic.

    - Sir Kingsley Amis
      One Fat Englishman, ch.8.

  • The sea of faith Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.

    - Matthew Arnold
      'Dover Beach', stanza 3.

  • For rigorous teachers seized my youth, And other its faith, and trimmed its fire, Showed me the high, white star of Truth, There bade me gaze, and there aspire.

    - Matthew Arnold
      Poems: Second Series,'Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse', l.67^70.

  • A lui la foi, a'   elle le doute, a'   elle le fardeau le plus lourd: la femme ne souffre-t-elle pas toujours pour deux? For him, faith; for her, doubt and for her theheavier load: does not the woman always suffer for both?

    - Honore   de Balzac
    La Recherche de l'absolu.

  • Science is an all-pervasive energy, for it is at once a mode of thought, a source of strong emotion, and a faith as fanatical as any in history.

    -Jacques Barzun
      Science, The Glorious Entertainment.

  • The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and myservant shall be healed.For Iama man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man,Go, and he goeth; and to another,Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed,Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    St Matthew 8:8^10.

  • And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord,saveus: weperish. And hesaithuntothem,Whyare ye fearful,O ye of littlefaith? Thenhearose, and rebuked St Matthew the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying,What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    St Matthew 8:25^7.

  • And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him,O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    St Matthew14:31.

  • And Jesus said unto them,Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    St Matthew17:20.

  • The just shall live by faith.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Romans1:17.

  •    Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and havenotcharity,Iam becomeassounding brass, ora tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all mygoodstofeed thepoor, and though Igivemy body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not herown, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Corinthians13:1^13.

  • Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Corinthians16:13.

  • For we walk by faith, not by sight.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Corinthians 5:7.

  • Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Ephesians 6:11^17.

  •   Faith without works is dead.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    James 2:20.

  • Fight the good fight of faith.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
      Timothy 6:12.

  • I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
      Timothy 4:7.

  • Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Hebrews11:1.

  • These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they 124 were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Hebrews11:13.

  • Wherefore seeing we alsoare compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Hebrews12:1^2.

  • Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks, without knowledge, of things without parallel.

    - Ambrose Gwinett Bierce
      The Cynic's Word Book. Retitled  The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

  • Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.

    -Book of Common Prayer
    Athanasian Creed.

  • We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christ's flock, and dosign him with thesign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. Amen.

    -Book of Common Prayer
    Publick Baptism of Infants, Reception of the Child.

  • Draw near with faith.

    -Book of Common Prayer
    Holy Communion, Invitation.

  • Religions are kept alive by heresies, which are really sudden explosions of faith. Dead religions do not produce them.

    - Gerald Brenan
      Thoughts in a Dry Season.

  • Methinks there be not impossibilities enough in religion for an active faith.

    - SirThomas Browne
    ^5  Religio Medici (published1643), pt.1, section 6.

  • I desire to exercise my faith in the difficultest points, for to credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith but persuasion.

    - SirThomas Browne
    ^5  Religio Medici (published1643), pt.1, section 6.

  • To believe only in possibilities, is not faith, but mere Philosophy.

    - SirThomas Browne
    ^5  Religio Medici (published1643), pt.1, section 48.

  • All we have gained then by our unbelief Is a life of doubt diversified by faith, For one of faith diversified by doubt: We called the chess-board white,we call it black.

    - Robert Browning
      Men and Women,'Bishop Blougram's  Apology'.

  • I hold no brief for private enterprise.But I have unshakeable faith in individual enterprise.

    - C(harles) L(uther) Burton
      A Sense of Urgency: Memoirs of a Canadian Merchant.

  • Men are grown mechanical in head and in the heart, as well as in the hand. They have lost faith in individual endeavour, and in natural force of any kind.

    -Thomas Carlyle
      Signs of the Times.

  • We have a faith in the imperishable dignityof man; in the high vocation to which, throughout this his earthly history, he has been appointed.

    -Thomas Carlyle
      Signs of the Times.

  • To believe practically that the poor and luckless are here only as a nusiance to be abraded and abated, and in some permissable manner made away with, and swept out of sight, is not an amiable faith.

    -Thomas Carlyle
      Chartism, ch.3.

  • That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.

    - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
      Biographia Literaria, ch.14.

  • Toda la cristiandad debe tomar alegr|a y hacer grandes fiestas, y dar gracias solemnes a la SantaTrinidad, con muchas oraciones solemnes por el tanto ensalzamiento que habra  n, en torna  ndose tantos pueblos a nuestra Santa Fe, y despue  s por los bienes temporales que no solamente a la Espan‹  a, mas a todos los cristianos tendra  n aqu | refigerio y ganancia. All Christendom ought to feel joyful and make great Compton-Burnett celebrations and give solemn thanks to the HolyTrinity with many solemn prayers for the great exaltation which it will have, in the turning of so many people to our holy faith, and afterwards for material benefits, since not only Spain but all Christians will hence have refreshment and profit.

    - Christopher Spanish name  Cristo  bal Colo  n Columbus
      Carta del descubrimiento (translated as The Letter in Spanish of Christopher Columbus,1889).

  • Here she comes i'faith full sail, with her fan spread and streamers out, and a shoal of fools for tenders. Congreve University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.

    -William Congreve
      Of Mirabell. The Way of the World, act 2, sc.5. 1695  Tattle to  Jeremy. Love for Love, act 5, sc.3.

  • It is hardest of all to give up the last slivers and shreds of objectivity, but only by doing so can faith finally free itself from all that is outworn and become as fully voluntary, creative and courageous as it isrequired to be today.

    - Rev Don Cupitt
      The Sea of Faith.

  • I that have loved thee thus before thou fadest, My faith shall wax, when thou art in thy waning. The world shall find this miracle in me, That fire can burn when all the matter's spent.

    - Samuel Daniel
      Delia, sonnet 33.

  • I mean, after all; you have to consider that we're only made out of dust. That's admittedly not much to go on and we shouldn't forget that. But even considering, I mean, it's sort of a bad beginning, we're not doing too bad. So I personally have faith that even in this lousy situation we're faced with we can make it.You get me?

    - Philip K(indred) Dick
      The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, closing words.

  • 'Faith' is a fine invention When Gentlemen can see But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency.

    - Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
    c.1860  Complete Poems, no.185 (first published1891).

  • Faithis the Pierless Bridge Supporting what We see Unto the Scene that We do not.

    - Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
    c.1864  Complete Poems, no.915 (first published1929).

  •    But she, good sir, Did not prefer You, for that I was ranging; But for that she Found faith in me And she loved to be changing.

    - Michael Drayton
      Poems Lyrick and Pastorall,'To His Rival'.

  • My thoughtless youth was winged with vain desires, My manhood, long misled by wandering fires, Followed false lights; and when their glimpse was gone My pride struck out new sparkles of her own† Good life be now my task: my doubts are done; (What more could fright my faith thanThree in One?)

    -John Dryden
      The Hind and the Panther, pt.1, l.71^6.

  • I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the hope and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought, So the darkness shall be the light and the stillness the dancing.

    -T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot
      Four Quartets,'East Coker', pt.1.

  • She had once been a Catholic, but discovering that priests were infinitely more attentive when she was in process of losing or regaining faith in Mother Church, she maintained an enchantingly wavering attitude.

    - F(rancis) Scott Key Fitzgerald
      Of Beatrice Blaine. This Side of Paradise, bk.1, ch.1.

  • Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

    - Benjamin Franklin
    Attributed prayer, traditionally known as the'Prayer of St Francis'.

  • In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but its effects.

    -J(ames) William Fulbright
      Speech to the US Senate, 21  Apr.

  • Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.

    -[great soul]
      Speech at Shahi Bag,18 Mar.

  •    BeforeThee in humility, withThee in faith, inThee in peace.

    - Dag HjalmarAgne Carl Hammarskjo«  ld
      Va«  gmarken (translated by L Sjsy«  berg and W H  Auden as Markings,1964).

  • Well,World, you have kept faith with me, Kept faith with me; Upon the whole you have proved to be Much as you said you were.

    -Thomas Hardy
      Winter Words,'He Never Expected Much'.

  • Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.

    - Eric Hoffer
    USradical activist andwriter. In1968 he helpedorganize violent anti-Vietnam    war    demonstrations    in    Chicago,    and    was prominent in the 'Chicago Seven' trial in 1969.  He was  active in public demonstrations until1986.

  • In order to imbue civilization with sound principles and enliven it with the spirit of the gospel, it is not enough to be illumined with the gift of faith and enkindled with the desire of forwarding a good cause. For this end it is necessary to take an active part in the various organizationsand influencethemfromwithin. And since our present age is one of outstanding scientific and technical progress and excellence, one will not be able to enter these organizations and work effectively from within unless he is scientifically competent, technically capableand skilled in the practice of his own profession.

    -PopeJohn XXIII originally Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli
      Pacem in Terris,10  Apr.

  • Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity† Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroysthevery fabric of society.On my knees I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence.

    -PopeJohn Paul II originally Karol Jozef Wojtyla
      Speech at Drogheda, Ireland, 29 Sep.

  • He has no faith in physic. He does think Most of your doctors are the greater danger, And worse disease, t'escape.

    - Ben Jonson
      Volpone, act1, sc.4.

  • Ich musste also das Wissen aufheben, um zum Glauben Platz zu bekommen. I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith.

    - Immanuel Kant
      Kritik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason), preface to 2nd edn (translated by N Kemp Smith).

  •    Without risk there is no faith.

    - So«  ren Aabye Kierkegaard
      Concluding Unscientific Postscript, bk.2, pt.2, ch.2 (translated by Swenson and Lowrie).

  • Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our dutyas we understand it.

    - Abraham Lincoln
      Speech, NewYork, 27 Feb.

  • Booth died blind and still by faith he trod, Eyes still dazzled by the ways of God.

    - (Nicholas) Vachel Lindsay
      General Booth Enters Into Heaven,'General Booth Enters Into Heaven'.

  •    By thetest of our faith thehighest standard ofcivilization is the readiness to sacrifice for others.

    - David, 1st Earl Lloyd George (of Dwyfor)
      Speech in Queen's Hall, London, 21 Sep.

  • Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even fromthese dead doubts shegathersher most vital hope.

    - Herman Melville
    Moby Dick, ch.7.

  • Faith may be defined brieflyas an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.

    - H(enry) L(ouis) Mencken
      Prejudices, 3rd series, ch.14.

  • Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.

    - Henry Valentine Miller
      The Air-Conditioned Nightmare,'With Edgar Var e' se in the Gobi Desert'.

  • This having learnt, thou hast attained the sum Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars Thou knew'st by name, and all th'ethereal powers, All secrets of the deep, all nature's works, Or works of God in heav'n, air, earth, or sea, And all the riches of this world enjoy'dst, And all the rule, one empire; onlyadd Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith, Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love, By name to come called charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A paradise within thee, happier far.

    -John Milton
      Michael to  Adam. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.12, l.575^87.

  • Ihave no faith in humanperfectibility† Man isnow only more activenot more happynor more wise, than he was 6,000 years ago.

    - EdgarAllan Poe
      Letter toJames Russell Lowell, 2 Jul.

  • In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity.

    - Alexander Pope
      An Essay on Man, epistle 3, l.307^8.

  • IwasbornaTory, amaTory, and shall dieaTory.Inever yet heard that it was any part of the faith of aTory to take the institutions and liberties, the laws and customs that his country has evolved over the centuries, and mergethem with those of eight other nations into a new-made artificial stateand what is more, to do so without the willing approbation and consent of the nation.

    - (John) Enoch Powell
      Speech against Britain's entry into the Common Market, Shipley, 25 Feb.

  • The mythical America†that marvellous, heroic, sentimental landwas an object of faith. It challenged you to make the believer's leap over the rude facts at your feet.

    -Jonathan Raban
      Hunting Mister Heartbreak, ch.2.

  • Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage, And thus I'll take my pilgrimage.

    - Sir Walter Raleigh
      The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage.

  • The triumphs of the Crusades were thetriumphs of faith. But faith without wisdom is a dangerous thing.

    - Sir Steven Runciman
      A History of the Crusades, vol.3.

  • Punica fide. With Punic faith.

    -Sallust in full Gaius Sallustius Crispus
    Used ironically (meaning treacherously) of the Numidian Bocchus, a double agent between Iugurtha and Sulla. Bellum Iugurthinum,108.3.

  • L'art pour l'art est un vain mot. L'art pour le vrai, l'art pour le beau et le bon, voila'   la religion que je cherche. Art for art's sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of the true, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I search for.

    - Sir Sydney Samuelson
      Letter to Alexandre Saint-Jean.

  • Alone† The word is life endured and known. It is the stillness where our spirits walk And all but inmost faith is overthrown.

    - Siegfried Louvain Sassoon
      The Heart'sJourney, pt.11,'''When I'm alone''the words tripped off his tongue'.

  • It is easyterribly easyto shake a man's faith in himself.Totakeadvantage ofthattobreak a man'sspirit is devil's work.

    - George Bernard Shaw
      Morell to Marchbanks. Candida, act1.

  • We will do our best to reward your faith in us, but please give us the opportunity to serve our country, that is all we ask.

    -John Smith
      Address to a European Gala Dinner,11 May.They were his final public words; he died the next morning of a heart attack.

  • People who are always praising the past And especially the times of faith as best Ought to go and live in the Middle Ages And be burnt at the stake as witches and sages.

    - Stevie (Florence Margaret) Smith
      NotWaving but Drowning,'The Past'.

  • Life is not all Beer and Skittles. The inherent tragedy of things works itself out from white to black and blacker, and the poor things of a day look ruefully on. Does it shake my cast-iron faith? I cannot say it does. I believe in an ultimate decency of things: ay, and if I woke in hell, should still believe it!

    - Robert Louis Stevenson
      Letter to Sidney Colvin, 23 Aug.

  •    Faith, that's as well said, as if I had said it myself.

    -Jonathan Swift
      Polite Conversation, dialogue 2.

  • Faith gives new light to the soul, but it does not put our eyes out; and what God hathgivenusinournature could never be intended as a snare to Religion, or engage us to believe a lie.

    -Jeremy Taylor
      TheWorthy Communicant.

  • From yon blue heavens above us bent The gardener Adam and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent. Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 'Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.

    -Tennyson
      Poems,'Lady ClaraVere deVere', stanza 7, l.50^6.

  • Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove.

    -Tennyson
      In Memoriam A.H.H., prologue, l.1^4.

  • There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds.

    -Tennyson
      In Memoriam A.H.H., canto 96, l.11^12.

  • The shackles of an old love straitened him, His honour rooted in dishonour stood, And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

    -Tennyson
      Idylls of the King,'Lancelot and Elaine', l.870^2.

  • And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign grace; But he rose upon their decks, and he cried: 'I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and true; I have only done my dutyas a man is bound to do: With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die!' And he fell upon their decks, and he died.

    -Tennyson
      'The Revenge', stanza13, l.99^104.

  •    'Tis not the dying for a faith that's so hard, Master Harryevery man of every nation has done that'tis the living up to it that is difficult.

    -William Makepeace Thackeray
      The History of Henry Esmond, bk.1, ch.6.

  • Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. Wherethere isdespair, may we bring hope. See St Francis 334:98.

    - Margaret HildaThatcher, Baroness Thatcher
      Said on entering No.10 Downing Street for the first time as Prime Minister; 4 May. A misquotation of St Francis of Assisi.

  • Faith comprises both itself and doubt of itself.

    - Paul Johannes Tillich
      Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality.

  • Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned.

    - Paul Johannes Tillich
      Dynamics of Faith.

  • La vida es duda, y la fe sin la duda es solo muerte. Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.

    - Miguel de Unamuno
      Poes|  as,'Salmo II'.

  • We the Peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, whichtwice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to 873 mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignityand worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, and for these ends, to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one anotherasgood neighbours, and tounite our strengthto maintain international peace and security, and to ensure by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims.

    -United Nations Charter
      26 Jun.

  • Esta gente e   boa e de boa simplicidade. E imprimir-se-a ligeiramente neles cualquer cunho, que les quiserem dar. E logo lhes, Nosso Senhor, deu bons corpos e bons rostos, como a bons homens, e Ele que nos por aqui trouxe, creio que na‹  o foi sem causa. E portanto,Vossa Alteza, pois tanto deseja acrescentar na santa fe   cato l ica, deve entender em sua salva c° a‹  o. These people are good and simple.You can stamp on them any design that you wish to give them. And Our Lord gave them good bodies and good faces, and I think that it was his plan that we arrive here. Therefore,Your Majesty, since you wish so much to increase Catholic faith, you must provide for their salvation.

    - Pero Vaz de Caminha
    Carta (published1817).

  • But to ignore the absence of evidence is the basis of true faith.

    - Gore originally Eugene Luther Vidal,Jr Vidal
      'PinkTriangle andYellow Star', in the Nation,14 Nov.

  • La foi consiste a'   croire ce que la raison ne croit pas† Il ne suffit pas qu'une chose soit possible pour la croire. Faith consists in believing what reason cannot†In order to believe something, it is not enough that it should be possible.

    -Voltaire pseudonym of  Fran c° ois Marie Arouet
      Questions sur l'Encyclope  die.

  • He did not, even in his extremity, quite abandon his faith in the magic of official forms. In bumf lay salvation.

    - Evelyn Arthur StJohn Waugh
      Officers and Gentlemen, bk.2, ch.5.

  • When faith is lost, when honor dies, The man is dead!

    -John Greenleaf Whittier
      'Ichabod', stanza 8.

  • My whole life have I lived in pleasant thought, As if life's business were a summer mood; As if all needful things would come unsought To genial faith, still rich in genial good.

    -William Wordsworth
      'Resolution and Independence', stanza 6 (published1807).

  • Enough, if something from our hands have power To live, and act, and serve the future hour; And if, as toward the silent tomb we go, Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower, We feel that we are greater than we know.

    -William Wordsworth
      The River Duddon, no.34,'After-Thought', l.10^14.

  • Even so for me a vision sanctified The sway of death; long ere my eyes had seen Thy countenancethe still rapture of thy mien When thou, dear Sister! wert become death's bride: No trace of pain or languor could abide That changeage on thy brow was smoothedthy cold Wan cheek at once was privileged to unfold A loveliness to living youth denied. Oh! if within me hope should e'er decline, The lamp of faith, lost Friend! too faintly burn; The may that heaven-revealing smile of thine, The bright assurance, visibly return: And let my spirit in that power divine Rejoice, as, through that power, it ceased to mourn.

    -William Wordsworth
      'November1836', complete poem (published1837).

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2010 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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