Top 150 Ella Wheeler Wilcox Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “For every hour of pain I have had a day of pleasure. For every moment of worry, an hour of content.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

52. “Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

53. “God made poor woman with no heart, But gave her skill, and tact, and art, And so she lives, and plays her part. We must not blame, but pity her...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

54. “That each sorrow has its purpose, By the sorrowing oft unguessed, But as sure as the sun brings morning, Whatever is-is best.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

55. “Love much. Earth has enough of bitter in it.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

56. “Good music is wine turned to sound.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

57. “Through strife the slumbering soul awakes, We learn on error’s troubled route The truths we could not prize without The sorrow of our sad mistakes.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

58. “God sent us here to make mistakes.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

59. “This world is a vaporous jest at best, Tossed off by the gods in laughter, And a cruel attempt at wit were it, If nothing better came after.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

60. “Give of thy love, nor wait to know the worth Of what thou lovest; and ask no returning. And wheresoe’er thy pathway leads on earth, There thou shalt find the lamp of love-light burning.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

61. “How does Love speak? In the faint flush upon the telltale cheek, And in the pallor that succeeds it; by The quivering lid of an averted eye – The smile that proves the parent to a sigh Thus doth Love speak.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

62. “Do you wish the world were better? Let me tell you what to do: Set a watch upon your actions, Keep them always straight and true...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

63. “For this is wisdom- to love and live To take what fate or the Gods may give, To ask no question, to make no prayer, To kiss the lips and caress the hair, Speed passion’s ebb as we greet its flow, To have and to hold, and, in time – let go.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

64. “There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found While journeying east and west – The only folks we really wound Are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know, We please the fleeting guest, And deal full many a thoughtless blow To those who love us best.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

65. “You never can tell when you send a word, Like an arrow shot from a bow By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind, Just where it may chance to go!”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

66. “Day’s sweetest moments are at dawn.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

67. “And so for me there is no sting of death, And so the grave has lost its victory. It is but crossing-with abated breath And white, set face-a little strip of sea To find the loved ones waiting on the shore, More beautiful, more precious than before.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

68. “Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great; All things give way before it, soon or late.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

69. “Let no man pray that he know not sorrow, Let no soul ask to be free from pain, For the gall of to-day is the sweet of to-morrow, And the moment’s loss is the lifetime’s gain.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

70. “How fleeting the sorrows of youth, how slight the foundations on which the young build towers of despair.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

71. “Slipping away are the hopes that made Bliss out of sorrow, and sun out of shade, Slipping away is our hold on life; And out of the struggle and wearing strife...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

72. “There are ghosts in the room. As I sit here alone, from the dark corners there They come out of the gloom, And they stand at my side and they lean on my chair...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

73. “And the smile that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that shines through tears.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

74. “Dear friend, I pray thee, if thou wouldst be proving Thy strong regard for me, Make me no vows. Lip-service is not loving; Let thy faith speak for thee...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

75. “When the heart grows weary, all things seem dreary; When the burden grows heavy, the way seems long. Thank God for sending kind death as an ending, Like a grand Amen to a minor song.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

76. “Talk not of the river or lake To those who have looked on the sea.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

77. “Life is too short for aught but high endeavor.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

78. “Talk health. The dreary, never-changing tale Of mortal maladies is worn and stale. You cannot charm, or interest, or please By harping in that minor chord, disease. Say you are well, or all is well with you, And God shall hear your words and make them true.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

79. “Love is a spy who is plotting treason, In league with that warm, red rebel, the Heart.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

80. “Life is a garden forever in flower.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

81. “For here lies the pleasure of living: In taking God’s bounties, and giving The gifts back again.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

82. “You may choose your words like a connoisseur, And polish it up with art, But the word that sways, and stirs, and stays, Is the word that comes from the heart.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

83. “Oh! not for the great departed, Who formed our country’s laws, And not for the bravest-hearted, Who died in freedom’s cause, And not for some living hero To whom all bend the knee, My muse would raise her song of praise – But for the man to be...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

84. “Mourn not for the vanished ages with their grand, heroic men, who dwell in history’s pages and live in the poets pen for the grandest times are before us and the world is yet to see the noblest work of this old earth in the men that are to be.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

85. “Hide in your heart a bitter thought, Still it has power to blight; Think Love, although you speak it not It gives the world more light.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

86. “There is no thing we cannot overcome Say not thy evil instinct is inherited, Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn, And calls down punishment that is not merited...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

87. “Love is the centre and circumference; The cause and aim of all things – ’tis the key To joy and sorrow, and the recompense For all the ills that have been, or may be.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

88. “All hope is prayer; who calls it hope no more, Sends prayer footsore forth over weary wastes, While he who calls it prayer, gives wings to hope.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

89. “The splendid discontent of God With chaos made the world. And from the discontent of man The worlds best progress springs.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

90. “It is never too late to begin rebuilding, Though all into ruins your life seems hurled; For see! how the light of the New Year is gilding The wan, worn face of the bruised old world.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

91. “And however dark the skies may appear, And however souls may blunder, I tell you it all will work out clear, For good lies over and under.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

92. “A poor original is better than a good imitation.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

93. “We ought to make the moments notes Of happy glad Thanksgiving; The hours and days, a silent praise Of music we are living.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

94. “Love is the crown that glorifies; the curse That brands and burdens; it is life and death. It is the great law of the universe; And nothing can exist without its breath.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

95. “This dream of our youth will fade out as the splendor Fades from the skies when the sun sinks to sleep.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

96. “Distrust that man who tells you to distrust.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

97. “Distrust that man who tells you to distrust. He takes the measure of his own small soul, and thinks the world no larger.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

98. “Be careful what rubbish you toss in the tide. On outgoing billows it drifts from your sight, But back on the incoming waves it may ride And land at your threshold again before night. Be careful what rubbish you toss in the tide...”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

99. “Lady beware. Fan not the harmless glow Of admiration into ardent love, Lean not with red curled smiling lips above The flickering spark of sinless flame, and blow, Lest in the sudden waking of desire Thou, like the child, shalt perish in the fire.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

100. “When we tire of well-worn ways, we seek for new. This restless craving in the souls of men spurs them to climb, and to seek the mountain view.”

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox