Henry van Dyke

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

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.
– Henry van Dyke

Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.
– Henry van Dyke

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 while you tell it.
– Henry van Dyke

Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.
– Henry van Dyke

There is a loftier ambition than to stand high in the world – it is to step down and lift mankind
a little higher.
– Henry van Dyke

Remember that what you possess in this world will be found on the day of your death to
belong to somebody else. But what you are will be yours forever.
– Henry van Dyke

Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on
what we are.
– Henry van Dyke

There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.
– Henry van Dyke

Be glad of life because it gives you a chance to love and to work and to play and to look up
at stars.
– Henry van Dyke

Home at last. Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul may keep the path, but will not
reach the goal; while he who walks in love may wonder far, yet God will bring him where the
blessed are.
– Henry van Dyke

The best rosebush, after all, is not that which has the fewest thorns, but that which bears
the finest roses.
– Henry van Dyke

Love is the best thing in the world, and the thing that lives the longest.
– Henry van Dyke

Four things a man must learn to do if he would make his record true: To think without
confusion clearly; To love his fellowmen sincerely; To act from honest motives purely; To
trust in God and Heaven securely.
– Henry van Dyke

Genius is talent set on fire by courage.
– Henry van Dyke

A friend is what the heart needs all the time.
– Henry van Dyke

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.
– Henry van Dyke

He that planteth a tree is a servant of God, he provideth a kindness for many generations,
and faces that he hath not seen shall bless him.
– Henry van Dyke

Many a treasure besides Ali Baba’s is unlocked with a verbal key.
– Henry van Dyke

Love is not getting, but giving, not a wild dream of pleasure, and madness of desire – it is
goodness, and honor, and peace and pure living.
– Henry van Dyke

Look around for a place to sow a few seeds.
– Henry van Dyke

Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined
to.
– Henry van Dyke

There is only one way to get ready for immortality, and that is to love this life and live it as
bravely and faithfully and cheerfully as we can.
– Henry van Dyke

I shall grow old but never lose life’s zest, because the road’s last turn will be the best.
– Henry van Dyke

As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not
emerge.
– Henry van Dyke

Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.
– Henry van Dyke

A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.
– Henry van Dyke