In life's small things be resolute and great To keep thy muscle trained; knowest thou when Fate Thy measure takes? or when she'll say to thee, "I find thee worthy; do this deed for me"? --James Russell Lowell. 'Tis a lifelong toil till our lump be leaven. The better! What's come to perfection perishes. Things learned on earth we shall practice in heaven. Work done least rapidly Art most cherishes. --Robert Browning. Let come what will, I mean to bear it out, And either live with glorious victory Or die with fame, renowned in chivalry. He is not worthy of the honey-comb That shuns the hive because the bees have stings. --William Shakespeare. One by one thy duties wait thee, Let thy whole strength go to each. Let no future dreams elate thee, Learn thou first what these can teach. --Adelaide Anne Procter. Give me heart-touch with all that live And strength to speak my word; But if that is denied me, give The strength to live unheard. --Edwin Markham. Honor and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honor lies --Alexander Pope. How wretched is the man with honors crowned, Who, having not the one thing needful found, Dies, known to all, but to himself unknown. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He fought a thousand glorious wars, And more than half the world was his, And somewhere, now, in yonder stars, Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is. --William Makepeace Thackeray. Howe'er it be, it seems to me 'Tis only noble to be good; Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood. --Alfred Tennyson. I've learned to prize the quiet, lightning deed, Not the applauding thunder at its heels Which men call fame. --Alexander Smith. It is worth while to live! Be of good cheer; Love casts out fear; Rise up, achieve. --Christina G. Rossetti. No endeavor is in vain; Its reward is in the doing, And the rapture of pursuing Is the prize the vanquished gain. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Far better in its place the lowliest bird Should sing aright to Him the lowliest song, Than that a seraph strayed should take the word And sing His glory wrong. --Jean Ingelow. Often ornateness Goes with greatness. Oftener felicity Comes of simplicity. --William Watson. A jewel is a jewel still, though lying in the dust, And sand is sand, though up to heaven by the tempest thrust. --From the Persian. Vulgar souls surpass a rare one in the headlong rush; As the hard and worthless stones a precious pearl will crush. --From the Persian. Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.