Henry Van Dyke Quotes

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.

Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to.

A friend is what the heart needs all the time.

Every house where love abides And friendship is a guest, Is surely home, and home sweet home For there the heart can rest.

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.

For those who love... time is eternity.

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

The simple life which blandly ignores all care and conflict, soon becomes flabby and invertebrate, sentimental and gelatinous.

Who can explain the secret pathos of Nature's loveliness? It is a touch of melancholy inherited from our mother Eve. It is an unconscious memory of the lost Paradise. It is the sense that even if we should find another Eden, we would not be fit to enjoy it perfectly nor stay in it forever.

To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something which shall really increase the happiness and welfare and virtue of mankind - this is a choice which is possible for all of us; and surely it is a good haven to sail for.

A tear that trembles for a little while Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world Wavers within its circle like a dream, Holds more of meaning in its narrow orb Than all the distant landscape that it blurs.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you ... to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old ... Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest ting in the world ... stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death... Then you can keep Christmas! But you can never keep it alone.

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.

A river is the most human and companionable of all inanimate things. It has a life, a character, a voice of its own; and it is as full of good fellowship as a sugar maple is of sap. It can talk in various tones, loud or low, and of many subjects grave and gay.... For real company and friendship there is nothing, outside of the animal kingdom, that is comparable to a river.

There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.

There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.

Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.

Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.

Some people are so afraid do die that they never begin to live.

If all the skies were sunshine Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them The cooling splash of rain. If all the world were music, Our hearts would often long For one sweet strain of silence, To break the endless song If life were always merry, Our souls would seek relief, And rest from weary laughter In the quiet arms of grief.

Time is: Too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear.

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.

Hours fly, Flowers die: New days, New ways: Pass by! Love stays.

Heaven often seems distant and unknown, but if He who made the road... is our guide, we need not fear to lose the way.

No amount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.

Favorite People, Favorite Places, Favorite Memories of the past ... These are the joys of a lifetime Those are the things that last

These are the things I prize And hold of dearest worth: Light of the sapphire skies, Peace of the silent hills, Shelter of the forests, comfort of the grass, Music of birds, murmur of little rills, Shadows of cloud that swiftly pass, And, after showers, The smell of flowers And of the good brown earth,- And best of all, along the way, friendship and mirth.

What do I owe my father? Everything!

There is only one way to get ready for immortality, and that is to love this life and live it as bravely and faithfully and cheerfully as we can.

And you will remember that love is not getting, but giving; not a wild dream of pleasure, and a madness of desire — oh no, love is not that — it is goodness, and honour, and peace, and pure living — yes, love is that; and it is the best thing in the world, and the thing that lives longest.

Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul, May keep the path, but will not reach the goal; While he who walks in love may wander far, Yet God will bring him where the blessed are.

Faith is an adventure; it is the courage of the soul to face the unknown. But that courage springs from the hope and confidence of the soul that its adventure will succeed.

Of all the things that man has made, no is so full of interest and charm, none possesses so distinct a life and character of its own, as a ship.

It is better to burn the candle at both ends, and in the middle, too, than to put it away in the closet and let the mice eat it.

Love is not getting, but giving; It is goodness, and honor, and peace and pure living.

There are many kinds of love, as many kinds of light, And every kind of love makes a glory in the night. There is love that stirs the heart, and love that gives it rest, But the love that leads life upward is the noblest and the best.

It is better to follow even the shadow of the best, than to remain content with the worst.

be glαd of life, becαuse it gives you the chαnce to love αnd to work αnd to plαy αnd to look up αt the stαrs; to be sαtisfied with your posessions, to despise nothing in the world except fαlsehood αnd meαnness αnd to feαr nothing except cowαrdice; to be governed by your αdmirαtions rαther thαn by your disgusts, to covet nothing thαt is your neighbour's except his kindness of heαrt αnd gentleness of mαnners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends and to spend αs much time αs you cαn with body αnd with spirit.

There is no conflict between the Old and the New; the conflict is between the False and the True.

The strength of your life is measured by the strength of your will.

The brave man is intelligent; he faces danger because he understands it and is prepared to meet it. The drunkard who runs, in the delirium of intoxication, into a burning house is not brave; he is only stupid. But the clear-eyed hero who makes his way, with every sense alert and every nerve strung, into the hell of flames to rescue some little child, proves his courage.

The best rose-bush, after all, is not that which has the fewest thorns, but that which bears the finest roses.

Tact is the unsaid part of what you think.

Love that leads life upward is the noblest and the best.

Genius is talent set on fire by courage.

As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.

Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain ideas that every man is bound to be a critic for life.

But this I know. Those who seek Him will do well to look among the poor and the lowly, the sorrowful and the oppressed.

In the progress of personality, first comes a declaration of independence, then a recognition of interdependence.