Most long lives resemble those threads of gossamer, the nearest approach to nothing unmeaningly prolonged, scarce visible pathways of some worm from… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
These pearls of thought in Persian gulfs were bred, Each softly lucent as a rounded moon; The diver Omar plucked them from… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
Better to me the poor mans crust, Better the blessing of the poor, Though I turn me empty from his door; That… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
Ah, in this world, where every guiding thread Ends suddenly in the one sure centre, death, The visionary hand of Might-have-been Alone… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
He gives only the worthless gold who gives from a sense of duty. — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
As life runs on, the road grows strange with faces new - and near the end. The milestones into headstones change, Neath every one… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
Where one person shapes their life by precept and example, there are a thousand who have shaped it by impulse and circumstances. — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
Most religion-mongers have bated their paradises with a bit of toasted cheese. They have tempted the body with large promises of possessions in their… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
The thing we long for, that we are For one transcendent moment. — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
It is beginning to be doubtful whether Parliament and Congress sit in Westminster and Washington, or in the editorial rooms of the leading journals,--so… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
[B]ut in literature, it should be remembered, a thing always becomes his at last who says it best, and thus makes it his own. — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image
It may be glorious to write Thoughts that shall glad the two or three High souls, like those far stars that come in sight… — James Russell Lowell Copy Share Image