The voices / 41 fragments

John G. Whittier

1807 AD — Undated

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

Author and source reference ↗

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Historical source references

Ichabod!
To A
The Chapel of the Hermits
Lines on Burns
Maud Muller
Snow Bound
The Mantle of St
The Eternal Goodness
Death · anthology attribution: Whittier
Despair · anthology attribution: Whittier
Goodness · anthology attribution: Whittier
Heart · anthology attribution: Whittier
Pity · anthology attribution: Whittier
Present · anthology attribution: Whittier
Truth · anthology attribution: Whittier
Printed citation: Whittier
Page 3 · printed citation: J
Page 28 · printed citation: John Greenleaf Whittier (Snow-Bound)
Page 142 · printed citation: John Greenleaf Whittier (Our Master)
Page 160 · printed citation: J
Page 195 · printed citation: J
Page 42 · printed citation: Whittier · subject: ATONEMENT
Page 502 · printed citation: Whittier · subject: REVERENCE
Complete signed selection 13; printed byline: Whittier; New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1901
Complete signed selection 47; printed byline: Whittier; New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1901
Complete signed selection 65; printed byline: Whittier; New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1901
Complete signed selection 175; printed byline: Whittier; New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1901
Complete signed selection 473; printed byline: John G
Complete signed selection 588; printed byline: Whittier; New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1901
Complete signed selection 13; printed byline: John Greenleaf Whittier; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907

Archive entries

01c. 1807 AD

So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn Which once he wore; The glory from his gray hairs gone For evermore!

John G. Whittier / quote

02c. 1807 AD

Making their lives a prayer.

John G. Whittier / quote

03c. 1807 AD

And step by step, since time began, I see the steady gain of man.

John G. Whittier / quote

04c. 1807 AD

For still the new transcends the old In signs and tokens manifold; Slaves rise up men; the olive waves, With roots deep set in battle graves!

John G. Whittier / quote

05c. 1807 AD

Give lettered pomp to teeth of Time, So "Bonnie Doon" but tarry; Blot out the epic's stately rhyme, But spare his "Highland Mary!"

John G. Whittier / quote

06c. 1807 AD

For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: "It might have been!"

John G. Whittier / quote

07c. 1807 AD

Low stir of leaves and dip of oars And lapsing waves on quiet shores.

John G. Whittier / quote

08c. 1807 AD

The hope of all who suffer, The dread of all who wrong.

John G. Whittier / quote

09c. 1807 AD

I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.

John G. Whittier / quote

10Undated

God giveth quietness at last.

John G. Whittier / quote

11Undated

Despair is infidelity and death.

John G. Whittier / quote

12Undated

What is good-looking, as Horace Smith remarks, but looking good? Be good, be womanly, be gentle, generous in your sympathies, heedful of the well-being of all around you; and, my word for it, you will not lack kind words of admiration.

John G. Whittier / quote

13Undated

A loving heart carries with it, under every parallel of latitude, the warmth and light of the tropics. It plants its Eden in the wilderness and solitary place, and sows with flowers the gray desolation of rock and mosses.

John G. Whittier / quote

14Undated

O, brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother, where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.

John G. Whittier / quote

15Undated

What is really momentous and all-important with us is the present, by which the future is shaped and colored.

John G. Whittier / quote

16Undated

Truth should be the first lesson of the child and the last aspiration of manhood; for it has been well said that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.

John G. Whittier / quote

17Undated

Few have borne unconsciously the spell of loveliness.

John G. Whittier / quote

18Undated

For of all sad words of tongue or pen, / The saddest were these: "It might have been."

John G. Whittier / quote

19Undated

God blesses still the generous thought, / And still the fitting word He speeds, / And truth, at His requiring taught, / He quickens into deeds.

John G. Whittier / quote

20Undated

Grant but memory to us, and we can lose nothing by death.

John G. Whittier / quote

21Undated

The steps of faith fall on the seeming void, and find the rock beneath.

John G. Whittier / quote

22Undated

The time for words has passed, and deeds alone suffice.

John G. Whittier / quote

23Undated

Man is more than constitutions.

John G. Whittier / quote

24Undated

The future’s gain Is certain as God’s truth; but, meanwhile, pain Is bitter, and tears are salt: our voices take A sober tone; our very household songs Are heavy with a nation’s griefs and wrongs; And innocent mirth is chastened for the sake Of the brave hearts that nevermore shall beat. The eyes that smile no more, the unreturning feet!

John G. Whittier / quote