The way was long, the wind was cold, The Minstrel was infirm and old; His withered cheek, and tresses gray, Seemed to have know a better day.
That day of wrath, that dreadful day. When heaven and earth shall pass away.
Then hush thee, my darling, take rest while you may, For strife comes with manhood, and waking with day.
Thus aged men, full loth and slow, The vanities of life forego, And count their youthful follies o’er, Till Memory lends her light no more.
But search the land of living men, Where wilt thou find their like again?
Where lives the man that has not tried How mirth can into folly glide, And folly into sin!
O! many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little meant! And many a word, at random spoken, May soothe or wound a heart that’s broken!
Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.
A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass, will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.
Many miles away there’s a shadow on the door of a cottage on the Shore of a dark Scottish lake.
Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.
When thinking about companions gone, we feel ourselves doubly alone.
A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.
Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness.
There is a vulgar incredulity, which in historical matters, as well as in those of religion, finds it easier to doubt than to examine.
To be ambitious of true honor, of the true glory and perfection of our natures, is the very principle and incentive of virtue.
Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life.
He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit, He that leaps the wide gulf should prevail in his suit.
He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles.
Mental attitude is more important than mental capacity.