O. Henry Quotes

There is no light in earth or heaven but the cold light of stars; and the first watch of night is given to the red planet Mars.

All sense of hearing and of sight enfold in the serene delight and quietude of sleep.

Kind messages, that pass from land to land; Kind letters, that betray the heart's deep history, In which we feel the pressure of a hand,-- One touch of fire,--and all the rest is mystery!

Youth, hope, and love: To build a new life on a ruined life, To make the future fairer than the past, And make the past appear a troubled dream.

All passes, Art alone Enduring stays to us; The Bust out-lasts the throne,-- The coin, Tiberius.

The Helicon of too many poets is not a hill crowned with sunshine and visited by the Muses and the Graces, but an old, mouldering house, full of gloom and haunted by ghosts.

When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.

If a man constantly aspires is he not elevated?

Build today, then strong and sure, With a firm and ample base; And ascending and secure. Shall tomorrow find its place.

The setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun. The brightness of our life is gone.

Ah, the souls of those that die Are but sunbeams lifted higher.

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

You are not called to be a canary in a cage. You are called to be an eagle, and to fly sun to sun, over continents.

The law will never make a man free; it is men who have got to make the law free.

No tears Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

Hoeing: A manual method of severing roots from stems of newly planted flowers and vegetables.

The hooded clouds, like friars, Tell their beads in drops of rain.

The true definition of a perennial: Any plant which, had it lived, would have bloomed year after year.

The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode.

The study of butterflies-creatures selected as the types of airiness and frivolity-instead of being despised, will some day be valued as one of the most important branches of Biological science.

No man can tell if he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.

We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.

An unclean person is universally a slothful one.

Live the life you've dreamed.

A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.

Do not give, as many rich men do, like a hen that lays her eggs ...and then cackles.

It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves.

"Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."

Your greatest pleasure is that which rebounds from hearts that you have made glad.

Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends.

For a man needs only to be turned around once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost...Not 'til we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.

Writing your name can lead to writing sentences. And the next thing you'll be doing is writing paragraphs, and then books. And then you'll be in as much trouble as I am!

The universe expects every man to do his duty in his parallel of latitude.

The truth is, there is money buried everywhere, and you have only to go to work to find it.

Resign yourself to the influence of the earth.

The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself.

God's Word must be the guide of your desires and the ground of your expectations in prayer.

The counsels and decrees of God do not truckle to the frail and fickle will of man.

Though we cannot by our prayers give God any information, yet we must by our prayers give him honor.

Knowledge is vain and fruitless which is not reduced to practice.

We best oppose error by promoting a solid knowledge of the word of truth, and the greatest kindness we can do to children, is to make them early to know the Bible.

Christ teaches by the Spirit of wisdom in the heart, opening the understanding to the Spirit of revelation in the word.

None shall be saved by Christ but those only who work out their own salvation while God is working in them by His truth and His Holy Spirit. We cannot do without God; and God will not do without us.

When I cannot enjoy the faith of assurance, I live by the faith of adherence.

Goodness makes greatness truly valuable, and greatness make goodness much more serviceable.

Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

Liberty ought to be the direct end of your government.

Not disabilities at all - more Abilities.

The magi, as you know, were wise men wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.

Once, when the days were ages, And the old Earth was young, The high gods and the sages From Nature's golden pages Her open secrets wrung.