Top 120 John Greenleaf Whittier Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

Featured in: Emotional Quotes, Sorrow Quotes, Past Quotes, Sadness Quotes, Regret Quotes

2. “Rest if you must, but never quit.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

Featured in: Willpower Quotes, Dedication Quotes, Resilience Quotes, Giving Up Quotes, Grit Quotes

3. “Thee lift me, and I lift thee, and together we ascend.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

4. “A little smile, a word of cheer, A bit of love from someone near, A little gift from one held dear, Best wishes for the coming year. These make a merry christmas!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

5. “Drop Thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

Featured in: Stress Quotes

6. “Through the dark and stormy night Faith beholds a feeble light Up the blackness streaking; Knowing God’s own time is best, In a patient hope I rest For the full day-breaking!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

7. “Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways! Re-clothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives thy service find, In deeper reverence praise.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

8. “God’s providence is not blind, but full of eyes.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

9. “Nature speaks in symbols and in signs.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

10. “I’ll lift you and you lift me, and we’ll both ascend together.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

11. “Up from the meadows rich with corn, Clear in the cool September morn.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

12. “No longer forward or behind I look in hope or fear, But grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

13. “Before me, even as behind, God is, and all is well.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

14. “If thou of fortune be bereft, and in thy store there be but left two loaves, sell one, and with the dole, buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

15. “Yet, in the maddening maze of things, And tossed by storm and flood, To one fixed trust my spirit clings; I know that God is good!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

16. “No cloud above, no earth below, A universe of sky and snow.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

17. “Nothing before, nothing behind; The steps of faith Fall on the seeming void, and find The Rock beneath.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

18. “The sun that brief December day Rose cheerless over hills of gray, And, darkly circled, gave at noon A sadder light than waning moon.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

19. “Beauty seen is never lost, God’s colors all are fast.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

20. “I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

21. “Autumn, in his leafless bowers, is waiting for the winter’s snow.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

22. “Green calm below, blue quietness above.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

23. “Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress-trees Who, hopeless, lays his dead away, Nor looks to see the breaking day Across the mournful marbles play!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

24. “Flowers spring to blossom where she walks The careful ways of duty; Our hard, stiff lines of life with her Are flowing curves of beauty.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

25. “At what point does a man turn into a monster? I don’t believe that it’s when he does horrible things, but when he accepts that he’s able to do them, and that he does them well.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

26. “We meet today To thank Thee for the era done, And Thee for the opening one.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

27. “Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace; East, west, north, and south let the long quarrel cease; Sing the song of great joy that the angels began, Sing the glory to God and of good-will to man!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

28. “Who fathoms the Eternal Thought? Who talks of scheme and plan? The Lord is God! He needeth not The poor device of man.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

29. “Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall; who sows a field, or trains a flower, or plants a tree, is more than all.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

30. “Heap high the farmer’s wintry hoard! Heap high the golden corn! No richer gift has Autumn poured From out her lavish horn!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

31. “What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye? What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pie?”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

32. “Thine to work as well as pray, Clearing thorny wrongs away; Plucking up the weeds of sin, Letting heaven’s warm sunshine in.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

33. “The windows of my soul I throw Wide open to the sun.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

34. “On leaf of palm, on sedge-wrought roll; on plastic clay and leather scroll, man wrote his thoughts; the ages passed, and lo! the Press was found at last!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

35. “God’s ways seem dark, but, soon or late, They touch the shining hills of day; The evil cannot brook delay, The good can well afford to wait, Give ermined knaves their hour of crime; Yet have the future grand and great, The safe appeal of Truth to Time!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

36. “Peace hath higher tests of manhood, than battle ever knew.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

37. “With silence only as their benediction, God’s angels come Where in the shadow of a great affliction, The soul sits dumb!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

38. “We search the world for truth; we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful, From all old flower fields of the soul; And, weary seeker of the best, We come back laden from out quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

39. “The age is dull and mean. Men creep, Not walk; with blood too pale and tame To pay the debt they owe to shame; Buy cheap, sell dear; eat. drink, and sleep down-pillowed, deaf to moaning want; Pay tithes for soul-insurance; keep Six days to Mammon, one to Cant.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

40. “Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

Featured in: Romance Quotes

41. “One brave deed makes no hero.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

42. “God is good and God is light In this faith I rest secure, Evil can but serve the right, Over all shall love endure.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

43. “Beneath the winter’s snow lie germs of summer flowers.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

44. “Behind the cloud the starlight lurks, Through showers the sunbeams fall; For God, who loveth all his works, Has left his Hope with all.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

45. “The Fates are just: they give us but our own; Nemesis ripens what our hands have sown.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

46. “Through this broad street, restless ever, ebbs and flows a human tide, wave on wave a living river; wealth and fashion side by side; Toiler, idler, slave and master, in the same quick current glide.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

47. “And step by step, since time began, I see the steady gain of man.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

48. “The garden rose may richly bloom In cultured soil and genial air, To cloud the light of Fashion’s room Or droop in Beauty’s midnight hair, In lonelier grace, to sun and dew The sweetbrier on the hillside shows Its single leaf and fainter hue, Untrained and wildly free, yet still a sister rose!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

49. “Oh, for boyhood’s painless play, sleep that wakes in laughing day, health that mocks the doctor’s rules, knowledge never learned of schools.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

50. “God fills the gaps of human need, Each crisis brings its word and deed.”

— John Greenleaf Whittier