Edgar Guest Quotations

I want to be able, as days go by, always to look myself straight in the eye.

I take the family shopping round. The markets of the world.

Tomorrow--there's no day so fair, It knows no sorrow; A day that banishes despair, Joy rules tomorrow.

When you're up against a trouble, meet it squarely, face to face. Lift your chin and set your shoulders, plant your feet and take a brace. When it's vain to try to dodge it, do the best that you can do. You may fail, but you may conquer. See it through!

No one is beat till he quits, no one is through till he stops. No matter how hard failure hits, no matter how often he drops, a fellow's not down till he lies in the dust and refuses to rise.

There is an education of the mind Which all require and parents only start. But there is training of a nobler kind And that's the education of the heart. Lessons that are most difficult to give Are Faith and Courage and the way to live.

Along a stream that raced and ran Through tangled trees and over stones, That long had heard the pipes o' Pan And shared the joys that nature owns, I met a fellow fisherman, Who greeted me in cheerful tones. . . . . Foes think the bad in him they've guessed And prate about the wrong they scan; Friends that have seen him at his best Believe they know his every plan; I know him better than the rest, I know him as a fisherman.

There's nothing that builds up a toil-weary soul Like a day on a stream, Back on the banks of the old fishing hole Where a fellow can dream. There's nothing so good for a man as to flee From the city and lie Full length in the shade of a whispering tree And gaze at the sky. . . . . It is good for the world that men hunger to go To the banks of a stream, And weary of sham and of pomp and of show They have somewhere to dream. For this life would be dreary and sordid and base Did they not now and then Seek refreshment and calm in God's wide, open space And come back to be men.

A feller's glad to be a friend, Out fishin'. A helpin' hand he'll always lend, Out fishin' The brotherhood of rod and line An' sky an' stream is always fine; Men come real close to God's design, Out fishin'. A feller isn't plotting schemes, Out fishin'. He's only busy with his dreams, Out fishin' His livery is a coat of tan; His creed, to do the best he can; A feller's always mostly man Out fishin'.

It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home

Away from the tumult of motor and mill I want to be care-free; I want to be still! I'm weary of doing things; weary of words I want to be one with the blossoms and birds.

One deed of kindness noticed is worth forty that are told.

Somebody scoffed, Oh, you'll never to that - At least no one ever has done it; But he took off his coat and he took off his hat, And the first thing we knew, he'd begun it.

Who does his task from day to day and meets whatever comes his way, Believing God has willed it so, has found real greatness here below. Who guards his post, no matter where, believing God must need him there, Although but lowly toil it be, has risen to nobility. For great and low there's just one test, 'tis that each man shall do his best, Who works with all the strength he can, shall never die in debt to man.

Now seeds are just dimes to the man in the store And the dimes are the things that he needs, And I've been to buy them in seasons before But have thought of them merely as seeds; But it flashed through my mind as I took them this time, "You purchased a miracle here for a dime."

Be a friend. You don't need glory. Friendship is a simple story.

For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.

Lord, this humble house we'd keep Sweet with play and calm with sleep. Help us so that we may give Beauty to the lives we live. Let Thy love and let Thy grace Shine upon our dwelling place.

Determination is the thing on which you can depend. It plods along without a swing, but gets there in the end.

And you can win, though you face the worst, if you feel that you're going to do it.

Somebody said that it couldn't be done But he with a chuckle replied That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one Who wouldn't say so till he tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it.

At Christmas A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year; He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here; Then he's thinking more of others than he's thought the months before, And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for. He is less a selfish creature than at any other time; When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime.

I have to live with myself and so, I want to be fit for myself to know.

But keep on working and hoping still. For in spite of the grumblers who stand about, somehow, it seems, all things work out.

For Age is not alone of time, or we should never see men old and bent at forty and men young at seventy-three.

You'll be richer in the end than a prince, if you're a friend.

If your purse no longer bulges and you've lost your golden treasure, If times you think you're lonely and have hungry grown for pleasure, Don't sit by your hearth and grumble, don't let mind and spirit harden. If it's thrills of joy you wish for get to work and plant a garden! If it's drama that you sigh for, plant a garden and you'll get it You will know the thrill of battle fighting foes that will beset it If you long for entertainment and for pageantry most glowing, Plant a garden and this summer spend your time with green things growing.

Give me the end of the year an' its fun When most of the plannin' an' toilin' is done; Bring all the wanderers home to the nest, Let me sit down with the ones I love best, Hear the old voices still ringin' with song, See the old faces unblemished by wrong, See the old table with all of its chairs An' I'll put soul in my Thanksgivin' prayers.

Stick to the fight whenyoure hardest hit

The proof of a man is the danger test, It shows him up at his worst, or his best.

Every thought and every act were to keep this home in tact.

Fine counsel is confusing, but example is always clear

You are the person who has to decide. Whether you'll do it or toss it aside.

If you never take a chance, you will never be defeated - but you will never accomplish anything either.

The happy man is he who turns his soul Unto the light of joys that he can find; And pays each day its just demand of toll, But shuts the future troubles from his mind.

But here in the struggle for fame and pelf I want to be able to like myself. I don't want to look at myself and know That I'm bluster and buff and empty show.

All the world loves a lover, but how it does laugh at his love letters.

Oh, you'll not be any poorer if you smile along your way. And your lot will not be harder for the kindly things you say. Don't imagine you are wasting time for others that you spend. You can rise to wealth and glory and still pause to be a friend.

So long as men shall be on earth, there will be tasks for them to do. Some way for them to show their worth. Each day shall bring its problems new. And men shall dream of mightier deeds than ever have been done before. There always shall be human needs for men to work and struggle for.

Children...they string our joys, like jewels bright, upon the thread of years.

Columbus dreamed of an unknown shore at the rim of a far flung sky.

The world is no longer closed to us in the way it was in the past - present generations have unparalleled access to pretty much all corners of the globe.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, there are thousands to prophesy failure. There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, the dangers that await to assail you. But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, just take off your coat and go to it; just start to sing as you tackle the thing that "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day

I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them.

I'll obey them in the winter when the doctors say to me I must give up ham and spinach, and obedient I'll be. To relieve my indigestion in December they can try, But there's none of them can stop me when it's time for cherry pie.

There's no diet list I'll follow that would rule out cherry pie.

You when the storm is raging - how do you face despair? It is you that the world discovers, whatever the clothes you wear.

I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me. I'd like to be the help that you've been always glad to be; I'd like to mean as much to you each minute of the day, as you have meant, old friend of mine, to me along the way.

Let me be a little kinder, Let me be a little blinder to the faults of those around me.

Love has the patience to endure the fault it sees but cannot cure.

The best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds.

A happy New Year! Grant that I May bring no tear to any eye When this New Year in time shall end Let it be said I've played the friend, Have lived and loved and labored here, And made of it a happy year.

You ought to be true for the sake of the folks who think you are true. You never should stoop to a deed that your folks think you would not do. If you are false to yourself, be the blemish but small, you have injured your folks; you have been false to them all.

Don't give up, what've you do; eyes front, head high to the finish. See it through!

He started to sing as he tackled the thing. That couldn't be done, and he did it.

The things are mighty few on earth that wishes can attain. Whate'er we want of any worth, we've got to work to gain.

The man who wants a garden fair, or small or very big, With flowers growing here and there, Must bend his back and dig. The things are mighty few on earth That wishes can attain. Whate'er we want of any worth We've got to work to gain. It matters not what goal you seek, It's secret here reposes: You've got to dig from week to week To get Results or Roses.

Courage must come from the soul within; the man must furnish the will to win. So figure it out for yourself, my lad. You were born with all that the great have had.

It matters not what goal you seek - its secret here reposes: you've got to dig from week to week - to get results on roses.

The lectures you deliver may be wise and true, But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do. I may not understand the high advise you like to give, But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

The timid and fearful first failures dismay, but the stout heart stays trying by night and by day. He values his failures as lessons that teach The one way to get to the goal he would reach.

The things that haven't been done before, Are the tasks worthwhile today; Are you one of the flock that follows, or Are you one that shall lead the way? Are you one of the timid souls that quail At the jeers of a doubting crew, Or dare you, whether you win or fail, Strike out for a goal that's new?

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.

The Making of Friends Life is sweet because of the friends we have made And the things which in common we share; We want to live on, not because of ourselves, But because of the ones who would care. It's living and doing for somebody else On that all of life's splendor depends, And the joy of it all, when we count it all up, Is found in the making of friends....

Life is like a cocktail, made up for the most part of sweet things, and tinged with a dash of bitters. We must drain it to the dregs to get at the cherry, just as we must live a full and rounded life to know all its pleasures.

You are the person who has to decide. Whether you'll do it or toss it aside; You are the person who makes up your mind. Whether you'll lead or will linger behind. Whether you'll try for the goal that's afar. Or just be contented to stay where you are.

Spring's greatest joy beyond a doubt is when it brings the children out.

There is an education of the mind / Which all require and parents only start. / But there is training of a nobler kind / And that's the education of the heart. / Lessons that are most difficult to give / Are Faith and Courage and the way to live.

With a lift of his chin, and a bit of a grin/ Without any doubting or "quit it,"/ He started to sing, as he tackled the thing/ That couldn't be done, and he did it.

Often we wonder in our grief what is gained by our belief? Although night, and morning we pray, still our joys are swept away. And loved ones we would keep, with the dead are called to sleep. None is wise enough to say why the wicked seem to stay, and the beautiful and good leave before we think they should. But if death seemed always just, soon in God wed cease to trust. If for evil, death were meant as a bitter punishment; should the wicked only die, then heaven we seek on high. Having none we long to see would a fearful religion be. It is only by belief we are comforted in grief; it is only by our trust that the God we love is just. That we bear divinely planned. Griefs we cannot understand.

Somebody scoffed, "Oh, you'll never to that --/ At least no one ever has done it";/ But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,/ And the first thing we knew, he'd begun it.

The best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,/ For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.

But here in the struggle for fame and pelf / I want to be able to like myself. / I don't want to look at myself and know / That I'm bluster and buff and empty show.