the simple things of nature

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you,
if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,
rejoice,
for your soul is alive.

~Eleonora Duse, (1858 – 1924)

Making your unknown known

Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant,

there is no such thing.

Making your unknown known 

is the important thing.

~Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 – 1986)

The flowers of late winter and early spring. . .

The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.

~Gertrude Smith Wister, American horticulturist (1905 – 1999)

All that we behold

All that we behold is full of blessings.

~William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet (1770 – 1850)

Growth

Growth itself

contains the germ

of happiness. 

~Pearl S. Buck, American writer and novelist (1892 – 1973)

Let a joy keep you

Let a joy keep you.

Reach out your hands

And take it when it runs by. . . .

~Carl August Sandburg, American writer, editor, poet (1878 – 1967)

grander than the sky

There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky;

there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.

~Victor Hugo, French romantic poet, novelist, dramatist (1802 – 1885)

an infinitude of hope

In the sky

an infinitude of hope,

a canvas of glory,

all possibilities mine.

~Terri Guillemets, U.S. quotation anthologist, (b. 1973)

It is difficult to say

Like a plant
that starts up
in showers and sunshine
and does not know which
has helped it to grow,
it is difficult to say
whether the hard things
or the pleasant things
did me the most good.

~Lucy Larcom, American poet (1824 – 1893)

Love

The one thing

we can never get

enough of 

is love.

And the one thing

we can never give

enough of 

is love.

~Henry Valentine Miller, American writer (1891 – 1980)