Henry Van Dyke

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.

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.

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 mankind - this is a choice which is possible for all of us and surely it is a good haven to sail for.

Happiness is inward, and not outward and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.

There are two good rules which ought to be written on every heart - never to believe anything bad about anybody unless you positively know it to be true never to tell even that unless you feel that it is absolutely necessary, and that God is listening.

A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.

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.

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.

Some people are so afraid do die that they never begin to live.

Genius is talent set on fire by courage.

Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.

It is with rivers as it is with people: the greatest are not always the most agreeable nor the best to live with.

Love is the best thing in the world, and the thing that lives the longest.

Use what talents you possess the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.