"To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent—that is to triumph over old age."

Thomas Bailey Aldrich Literature See all quotes by Thomas Bailey Aldrich →

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More by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

“True art selects and paraphrases, but seldom gives a verbatim translation.”

“All the best sands of my life are somehow getting into the wrong end of the hour-glass. If I could only reverse it! Were it in my power to do so, would I?”

“It is the Lord's Day, and I do believe that cheerful hearts and faces are not unpleasant in His sight.”

“Conservatism and respectability have their values, certainly; but has not the unconventional its values also?”

“O harp of life, so speedily unstrung!”

“Dialect tempered with slang is an admirable medium of communication between persons who have nothing to say and persons who would not care for anything properly said.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Civil liberties had their origin and must find their ultimate guaranty in the faith of the people. If that faith should be lost, five or nine men in Washington could not long supply its want."

— Robert H. Jackson

Law1892–1954

#hope

"Prometheus... found the human race in a pitiable condition. They saw, he says, but they really saw not: they heard, but they understood not: they were like the phantoms of our dreams, and their labour…"

— George Long (scholar)

Literature1800–1879

#hope

"The amount of racism, sexism, homophobia, and hatred in general that lies beneath the surface of the American dream is astounding and serious."

— Margaret Cho

Entertainment1968

#hope

"Could the terrors and crimes of today be possible if both Origins had been balanced? In the hands of woman lies the salvation of humanity and of our planet. Woman must realize her significance, the gr…"

— Helena Roerich

Philosophy1879–1955

#knowledge