George Edward Woodberry (1855–1930) was an American literary critic and poet. Woodberry was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, on May 12, 1855. The Woodberrys or Woodburys—various spellings of the name exist—immigrated early and, since settlement took root on the North Shore, have been native to Beverly and neighboring seaport towns. Receiving his preparation at the Phillips Exeter Academy, he entered Harvard College in 1872. Owing, however, to ill health, he was unable to continue with his class. He re-entered in 1875 and was graduated in 1877. Another distinguished member was the then Governor of Massachusetts. Woodberry took highest final honors in philosophy, and was awarded an Oration at Commencement. This essay, on the “Relation of Pallas Athene to Athens”, owes its preservation in a permanent form to the fact that he was forbidden to deliver it, because of the disapproval of its substance by the Committee of the Faculty in charge. His college friends asked his consent to print for him a small edition, copies of which are now rare. This and his early college poems, of which there is a selection in “Verses from the Harvard Advocate”, were his first-fruits.
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I am quite sure that no friendship yields its true pleasure and nobility of nature without frequent communication, sympathy and service.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Friendship
To be faithful to your instincts and the impulses that carry you in the direction of the excellence you most desire and value … surely that is to lead the noble life.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Instincts
It is not in life, but in art that self-fulfillment is to be found.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Arts, Artists, Art
The willingness to take risks is our grasp of faith.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Risk
Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Failure, Defeat, Success & Failure
Always begin anew with the day, just as nature does. It is one of the sensible things that nature does.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Morning, Nature
Risk is a part of God’s game, alike for men and nations.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Risk
Old times never come back and I suppose it’s just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that’s better.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Live-now, Reflection, Age
The sense that some one else cares always helps because it is the sense of love.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Service, Kindness, Compassion
Oh happy we, the first-born heirs of nature,
For whom the Heavenly Sun delays his light!
He by the sweets of every mortal creature
Tempers eternal beauty to our sight;
And by the glow upon love’s earthly feature
Maketh the path of our departure bright.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Children
To feel that one has a place in life solves half the problem of contentment.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Appropriateness, Aptness, Contentment
The sweetest roamer is a boy’s young heart.
—George Edward Woodberry
Topics: Children
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