01UndatedThe world is a looking glass, Wherein ourselves are shown,— Kindness for kindness, cheer for cheer, Coldness for gloom, repulse for fear,— To every soul its own. We cannot change the world a whit, Only ourselves, who look in it.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
02UndatedEvery day is a fresh beginning, Every morn is the world made new. You who are weary of sorrow and sinning, Here is a beautiful hope for you, A hope for me and a hope for you. Every day is a fresh beginning; Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain, And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning, And puzzles forecasted and possible pain, Take heart with the day, and begin again.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
03UndatedOne small life in God's great plan, How futile it seems as the ages roll, Do what it may, or strive how it can, To alter the sweep of the infinite whole! A single stitch in an endless web, A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb! But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost, Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed; And each life that fails of its true intent Mars the perfect plan that its Maker meant.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
04UndatedIf you were toiling up a weary hill, Bearing a load beyond your strength to bear. Straining each nerve untiringly and still Stumbling and losing foothold here and there And each one passing by would do so much As give one upward lift and go his way, Would not the slight reiterated touch Of help and kindness lighten all the day? If you were breasting a keen wind which tossed And buffeted and chilled you as you strove, Till baffled and bewildered quite, you lost The power to see the way, and aim and move, And one, if only for a moment's space, Gave you a shelter from the bitter blast, Would you not find it easier to face The storm again when the brief rest was past?Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
05Undated"A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh; But why should we sigh as we say? The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky Makes up the commonplace day. The moon and the stars are commonplace things, And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings, But dark were the world and sad our lot If the flowers failed and the sun shone not; And God, who studies each separate soul Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
06UndatedShe read all sorts of things: travels, and sermons, and old magazines. Nothing was so dull that she couldn't get through with it. Anything really interesting absorbed her so that she never knew what was going on about her. The little girls to whose houses she went visiting had found this out, and always hid away their story-books when she was expected to tea. If they didn't do this, she was sure to pick one up and plunge in, and then it was no use to call her, or tug at her dress, for she neither saw nor heard anything more, till it was time to go home.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
07UndatedYou can make your room such a delightful place that they will want to come to you...she is always on hand. Everybody who wants her knows just where to go. If people love her, she gets naturally to be the heart of the house. Once make the little ones feel that your room is the place of all the others to come to when they are tired, or happy, or grieved, or sorry about anything and that the Katy who lives there is sure to give them a loving reception and the battle is won. For you know we never do people good by lecturing.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
08UndatedImogen was a bright girl naturally, but she had read so many novels that her brain was completely turned.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
09UndatedTo-morrow I will begin," thought Katy, as she dropped asleep that night. How often we all do so! And what a pity it is that when morning comes and to-morrow is to-day, we so frequently wake up feeling quite differently; careless or impatient, and not a bit inclined to do the fine things we planned overnight.Susan Coolidge / quote ↗
