quote · Legacy record
Our lives are songs; God writes the words, And we set them to music at pleasure; And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad, As we choose to fashion the measure. We must write the music, whatever the song, Whatever its rhyme or metre; And if it is sad, we can make it glad, Or, if sweet, we can make it sweeter.
Our lives are songs; God writes the words, And we set them to music at pleasure; And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad, As we choose to fashion the measure. We must write the music, whatever the song, Whatever its rhyme or metre; And if it is sad, we can make it glad, Or, if sweet, we can make it sweeter.
Approximate author period: c. 1866 AD · industrial
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1866 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period evidence for Ella Wheeler Wilcox: documented activity in 1866. Wikidata Q448376, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q448376 (accessed 2026-10-08).
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911) (1911 AD)
Complete signed selection 252; printed byline: Ella Wheeler Wilcox; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.