Henry Jackson van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) was an American author, educator, and clergyman. He was a short-story writer, poet, and essayist famous in the early decades of the 20th century.
Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, van Dyke graduated from the Princeton theological seminary in 1877. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Brooklyn in 1879. He served as pastor at churches in Rhode Island and New York City until 1900, when he returned to Princeton as a professor of English literature, serving until 1923. From 1913–17, he served as the American minister to the Netherlands.
Van Dyke’s early works, moralistic essays such as The Story of the Other Wise Man (1896) and The First Christmas Tree (1897,) were first read aloud to his congregations as sermons. These quickly brought him recognition. He also wrote such essays on outdoor life as Little Rivers (1895) and Fisherman’s Luck (1899.)
Other stories and anecdotal tales were gathered at regular intervals into volumes. Among these collections were The Ruling Passion (1901,) The Blue Flower (1902,) The Unknown Quantity (1912,) The Valley of Vision (1919,) and The Golden Key (1926.)
Van Dyke’s popularity also extended to his verse, collected in Poems (1920.)
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What we do belongs to what we are; and what we are is what becomes of us.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
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
Look around for a place to sow a few seeds.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Charity, Giving
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
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: Mankind, Man
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: Feelings, Gratitude, Thankfulness
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
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, Life, Stars, Blessings, Living
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, Friendship, Friends
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
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.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Heaven
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: Time Management, Time, Spending time wisely, Love
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
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.
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
Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Anxiety, Death, Fear, Dying
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
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
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
Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Self-Discovery
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
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: Joy, Peace, Love
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
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: Talent, Birds, Wildlife
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.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Christmas
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: Criticism, Critics
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
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: Morals, Government
There is no conflict between the Old and the New; the conflict is between the False and the True.
—Henry van Dyke Jr.
Topics: Truth
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