Natural beauty and wonder are priceless heirlooms which God has bestowed upon our nation. How shall we escape the contempt of the coming generation if we suffer this irreplaceable heritage to be wasted?
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Wilderness
The lintel low enough to keep out pomp and pride; the threshold high enough to turn deceit aside; the door-band strong enough from robbers to defend: this door will open at a touch to welcome every friend.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Friendship
Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Culture
The best rose-bush, after all, is not that which has the fewest thorns, but that which bears the finest roses.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Perspective
There are two good rules which ought to be written on every heart; never to believe anything bad about anybody unless you positively know it to be true; and never to tell that unless you feel that it is absolutely necessary, and that God is listening while you tell it.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Gossip
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.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Seasons, Spring
A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Peace
Christianity requires two things from every man who believes in it: first, to acquire property by just and righteous means, and second, to look not only on his own things, but also on the things of others.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Christianity
After all, the Bible must be its own argument and defence. The power of it can never be proved unless it is felt. The authority of it can never be supported unless it is manifest. The light of it can never be demonstrated unless it shines.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Bible
A clean and sensitive conscience, a steadfast and scrupulous integrity in small things as well as great, is the most valuable of all possessions, to a nation as to an individual.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Conscience
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.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Nature
Happiness is inward and not outward; and so it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Happiness
Four things a man must learn to do if he would make his record true: To think without confusion clearly; To love his fellow-men sincerely; To act from honest motives purely; To trust in God and Heaven securely.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Habit
Be glad of life because it gives you to chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Living, Life, Blessings, Stars, Life and Living
The task and triumph of religion is to make men and nations true and just and upright in all their dealings, and to bring all law as well as all conduct into subjection and conformity to the law of God.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Christianity, Religion
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 not.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Time, Time Management
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.
Hours fly, flowers die,
new days, new ways pass by,
Love stays.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Love, Time, Spending time wisely, Time Management
Look around for a place to sow a few seeds.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Charity, Giving
Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Wildlife, Talent, Birds
You never see the stock called Happiness quoted on the exchange.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Happiness
Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Thankfulness, Feelings, Gratitude
Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home, sweet home
For there the heart can rest.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Home
Love is not getting, but giving. Not a wild dream of pleasure and madness of desire – oh, no – love is not that! It is goodness and honor and peace and pure living – yes, love is that and it is the best thing in the world and the thing that lives the longest.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Peace, Love, Joy
What we do belongs to what we are; and what we are is what becomes of us.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Self-Discovery
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 not.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Time
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.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Character
No amount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Thinking
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.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Life and Living, Fame
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Mark Van Doren American Poet, Critic
- Richard Wright American Novelist, Short-Story Writer
- Stephen Vincent Benet American Poet
- Wendell Berry American Author, Environmentalist
- John Updike American Author
- L. Frank Baum American Writer
- Conrad Aiken American Poet, Novelist
- Bret Harte American Author
- Louis L’Amour American Novelist
- Clarence Day American Author, Humorist
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