goodness quotes

And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee† And he said,Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Exodus 33:19^20.

   The L ismy shepherd; Ishall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.Yea, though I walk through the valleyof theshadow of death,I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the L for ever.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDORDPsalms 23:1^6.

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms 65:11.

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness.

-Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Prayer for the Royal Family.

Let him be rich and weary, that at least, If goodness lead him not, yet weariness May toss him to My breast.

- George Herbert
'The Pulley', collected in The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (published posthumously,1633).

O goodness infinite, goodness immense! That all this good of evil shall produce, And evil turn to good; more wonderful Than that which by creation first brought forth Light out of darkness!

-John Milton
   Adam to Michael. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.12, l.470^4.

You are menaced by the goodness of your mechanics.

- Marianne Craig Moore
  Tofellow-poet ElizabethBishop. Quoted in David Kalstone Becoming a Poet (1989), p.57.

For I spend all my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to make your first and chief concern not for your bodies nor for your possessions, but for the highest welfare of your souls, proclaiming as Igo,Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state.

-Plato
Apology, 30b (translated by H Tredennick).

The good want power, but to weep barren tears. The powerful goodness want: worse need for them. The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom.

- Percy Bysshe Shelley
  Prometheus Unbound act1, l.625^7.

What makes saintliness in my view, as distinguished from ordinary goodness, is a certain quality of magnanimityand greatness of soul that brings life within the circle of the heroic.

- Harriet (Elizabeth) ne  e Beecher Stowe
  'The Cathedral', in the Atlantic Monthly, Dec.

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.

- Henry David Thoreau
  Walden, or Life in theWoods,'Economy'.

Oh, my Gracious,Glorious,Galumphing Goodness!

- P(amela) L(yndon) Travers
  MrWigg. Mary Poppins, ch.3.

'Goodness what beautiful diamonds!' 'Goodness had nothing to do with it.'

- Mae West
 Night After Night (screenplay byVincent Lawrence).