Perhaps the chief cause which has retarded the progress of poetry in America, is the want of that exclusive cultivation, which so… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
The pleasant books, that silently among Our household treasures take familiar places, And are to us as if a living tongue Spake… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Every author has the whole past to contend with; all the centuries are upon him. He is compared with Homer, Dante, Shakespeare,… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Many readers judge of the power of a book by the shock it gives their feelings. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
I feel a kind of reverence for the first books of young authors. There is so much aspiration in them, so much… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Authors have a greater right than any copyright, though it is generally unacknowledged or disregarded. They have a right to the reader's… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
With many readers, brilliancy of style passes for affluence of thought; they mistake buttercups in the grass for immeasurable gold mines under… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
I am never indifferent, and never pretend to be, to what people say or think of my books. They are my children,… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
“Sadly as some old mediaeval knight Gazed at the arms he could no longer wield, The sword two-handed and the shining shield… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
“You know the rest. In the books you have read How the British Regulars fired and fled,--- How the farmers gave them… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
The motives and purposes of authors are not always so pure and high, as, in the enthusiasm of youth, we sometimes imagine.… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
It is true, that it is not at all necessary to love many books, in order to love them much. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
A literary critic is a person who finds meaning in literature that the author didn't know was there. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Alas! it is not till time, with reckless hand, has torn out half the leaves from the Book of Human Life to… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
No literature is complete until the language it was written in is dead. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
I know not how it is, but during a voyage I collect books as a ship does barnacles. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
If you once understand an author's character, the comprehension of his writings becomes easy. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Critics are sentinels in the grand army of letters, stationed at the corners of newspapers and reviews, to challenge every new author. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Authors must not, like Chinese soldiers, expect to win victories by turning somersets in the air. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
The student has his Rome, his Florence, his whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library. He has in his… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
There are two angels that attend unseen Each one of us, and in great books record Our good and evil deeds. He… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
The secret studies of an author are the sunken piers upon which is to rest the bridge of his fame, spanning the… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
The spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, with a laugh and a shout and hands full… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
In old age our bodies are worn-out instruments, on which the soul tries in vain to play the melodies of youth. But because the… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
“ Endymion The rising moon has hid the stars; Her level rays, like golden bars, Lie on the landscape green, With shadows brown between.… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
There's nothing fair nor beautiful, but takes Something from thee, that makes it beautiful. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Fame comes only when deserved, and then is as inevitable as destiny, for it is destiny. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Nature paints not; In oils, but frescoes the great dome of heaven; With sunsets, and the lovely forms of clouds; And flying vapors. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
“ Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers,— Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were they free from Fear,… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
The trees are white with dust, that o'er their sleep Wave their broad curtains in the south-wind's breath, While underneath such leafy tents they… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Heights by great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight but, while their companions slept, they were toiling upward in the… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Ah, how skillful grows the hand That obeyeth Love's command! It is the heart, and not the brain, That to the highest doth attain,… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
Thus departed Hiawatha, Hiawatha the Beloved, In the glory of the sunset, In the purple mists of evening, To the regions of the home-wind,… — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Copy Share Image
