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
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.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Critics, Criticism
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
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.
There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Man, Mankind
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
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: Spending time wisely, Time Management, Love, Time
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 Management, Time
Gratitude is a twofold love—love coming to visit us, and love running out to greet a welcome guest.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Gratitude
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
Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Fear, Dying, Anxiety, Death
There is a life that is worth living now as it was worth living in the former days, and that is the honest life, the useful life, the unselfish life, cleansed by devotion to an ideal. There is a battle worth fighting now as it was worth fighting then, and that is the battle for justice and equality: to make our city and our state free in fact as well as in name; to break the rings that strangle real liberty, and to keep them broken; to cleanse, so far as in our power lies, the fountains of our national life from political, commercial, and social corruption; to teach our sons and daughters, by precept and example, the honor of serving such a country as America. That is work worthy of the finest manhood and womanhood.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Life
In the progress of personality, first comes a declaration of independence, then a recognition of interdependence.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Personality, Friends, Friendship
A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Peace
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: Religion, Christianity
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
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: Spring, Seasons
There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Charm
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: Life and Living, Blessings, Life, Living, Stars
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: Gratitude, Feelings, Thankfulness
What we do belongs to what we are; and what we are is what becomes of us.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
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, Joy, Love
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 humankind—this is a choice which is possible for all of us; and surely it is a good haven to sail for.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Helpfulness, Service
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
Look around for a place to sow a few seeds.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Giving, Charity
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
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
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
No matter what theory of the origin of government you adopt, if you follow it out to its legitimate conclusions it will bring you face to face with the moral law.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Government, Morals
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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