Inspirational Quotes by John Greenleaf Whittier
“Who fathoms the Eternal Thought? Who talks of scheme and plan? The Lord is God! He needeth not the poor device of man.”
topics: God
“Forever from the hand that takes one blessing from us, others fall; and soon or late, our Father makes his perfect recompense to all.”
topics: God
“Through the dark and stormy night Faith beholds a feeble light Up the blackness streaking; Knowing God's own time is best, In a patient hope I rest For the full day-breaking!”
“Peace hath higher tests of manhood, than battle ever knew.”
topics: Peace
“Oh, brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother; where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.”
topics: Peace
“You don't always win your battles, but it's good to know you fought.”
topics: Perseverance
“Every chain that spirits wear crumbles in the breadth of prayer.”
topics: Prayer
“The simple heart that freely asks in love, obtains.”
“His daily prayer, far better understood in acts than in words, was simply doing good.”
“Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young.”
topics: Romance
“We search the world for truth; we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful, From all old flower fields of the soul; And, weary seekers of the best, We come back laden from our quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read.”
“Our toil is sweet with thankfulness, Our burden is our boon; The curse of earth's gray morning is, The blessing of its noon.”
“Yet, in the maddening maze of things, And tossed by storm and flood, To one fixed trust my spirit clings; I know that God is good!”
“As a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the truth.”
“From the death of the old the new proceeds, and the life of truth from the death of creeds.”
topics: Truth
“I saw in these southern provinces so many vices and corruptions, increased by this trade and this way of life, that it appeared to me as a dark gloominess hanging over the land; and though now many willingly run into it, yet in future the consequence will be grievous to posterity.”
topics: slavery-in-the-united-states
“Many former owners of slaves faithfully paid the latter for their services, submitting to the award and judgment of arbitrators as to what jus tice required at their hands. So deeply had the sense of the wrong of slavery sunk into the hearts of Friends!”
“how lamentable is the present Corruption of the World! how impure are the Channels through which Trade hath a Conveyance!”
Group of Brands
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1807-1892
John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Although he received little formal education, he was an avid reader who studied his father's six books on Quakerism until their teachings became the foundation of his ideology. Whittier was heavily influenced by the doctrines of his religion, particularly its stress on humanitarianism, compassion, and social responsibility.
Whittier produced two collections of antislavery poetry: Poems Written during the Progress of the Abolition Question in the United States, between 1830 and 1838 and Voices of Freedom (1846). He was an elector in the presidential election of 1860 and of 1864, voting for Abraham Lincoln both times.
The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 ended both slavery and his public cause, so Whittier turned to other forms of poetry for the remainder of his life.