Edgar Guest: Trending quotes (page 2)

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Edgar Guest: 122   quotes 4   likes

“I hold no dream of fortune vast,
Nor seek undying fame.
I do not ask when life is past
That many know my name.I may not own the skill to rise
To glory's topmost height,
Nor win a place among the wise,
But I can keep the right.And I can live my life on earth
Contented to the end,
If but a few shall know my worth
And proudly call me friend.”

Edgar Guest

Success.
Just Folks (1917)

Life , Dreams , Past

“Life is a gift that the humblest may boast of
And one that the humblest may well make the most of.
Get out and live it each hour of the day,
Wear it and use it as much as you may;
Don't keep it in niches and corners and grooves,
You'll find that in service its beauty improves.”

Edgar Guest

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), Life, stanza 2, p. 64.

Life , Beauty

“Courage was never designed for show;
It isn't a thing that can come and go;
It's written in victory and defeat
And every trial a man may meet.
It's part of his hours, his days and his years,
Back of his smiles and behind his tears.
Courage is more than a daring deed:
It's the breath of life and a strong man's creed.”

Edgar Guest

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), Courage, stanza 4, p. 73.

Life , Smile , Courage , Tear

“Tis better to have tried in vain,
Sincerely striving for a goal,
Than to have lived upon the plain
An idle and a timid soul.'Tis better to have fought and spent
Your courage, missing all applause,
Than to have lived in smug content
And never ventured for a cause.For he who tries and fails may be
The founder of a better day;
Though never his the victory,
From him shall others learn the way.”

Edgar Guest

Failures, p. 84.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

Way , Soul , Courage , Learning

“Now you've all the equipment the greatest possess,
And some men have risen to glory with less,
So don't be afraid, but go to it;
If it's honest, and useful, and ought to be done,
Don't think it beneath you, but jump in, my son -
Go straight to your duty and do it.”

Edgar Guest

The Training of Jimmy McBride, third stanza
The Passing Throng (1923)

Thinking , Men

“Who's dat knockin' at de do',
Who's dat callin' here ter-day?
What yo' want to see me fo'?
Tell me what yo' got to say.
What yo' name an' what yo' mean,
Standin' out there in de gloam?
Trouble, waitin' to come in?
No sir, no sir, I ain't home!”

Edgar Guest

The Callers, first stanza.
The Passing Throng (1923)

Home

“Where is the road to Arcady,
Where is the path that leads to peace,
Where shall I find the bliss to be,
Where shall the weary wanderings cease?
These are the questions that come to me -
Where is the road to Arcady?”

Edgar Guest

Arcady, first stanza.
The Passing Throng (1923)

Peace , Question

“I did not stop to ask the lad his little tale to tell,
There was no need of that because I knew the story well -
"She never gave a chance to me!"”

Edgar Guest

that sentence held it all.
A hundred times I'd lived the scene in days when I was small,
A broken rule, a teacher vexed, hot rage where calm belonged,
A guilty judgment blindly made - a youngster sadly wronged.<p>I still can see that little chap upon his homeward way,
"She never gave a chance to me," I still can hear him say,
And so I write this verse for him, and all the girls and boys
Who shall their tutors now and then disturb with needless noise.
Be fair, you teachers of our land, in every circumstance;
Don't let some little fellow say he never had a chance.
She Never Gave Me a Chance, third and final stanzas.
The Passing Throng (1923)

Chance

“Now a bit of praise isn't much to give,
But it's dear to the hearts of all who live;
And there's never a man on this good old earth
But is glad to be told that he's been of worth;
And a kindly word when the work is fair
Is welcomed and wanted everywhere.”

Edgar Guest

If I Were a Boss, third stanza.
Source: The Passing Throng (1923)

Heart

“Honor is something we all profess,
But most of us cheat—some more, some less—
An' the real test isn't the way we do
When there isn't a pinch in either shoe;
It's whether we're true to our best or not
When the right thing's certain to hurt a lot.”

Edgar Guest

The True Man, stanza 3
Source: When Day is Done (1921)

Hurt , Cheating , Shoe , Way

“I'd like to think when life is done
That I had filled a needed post,
That here and there I'd paid my fare
With more than idle talk and boast;
That I had taken gifts divine,
The breath of life and manhood fine,
And tried to use them now and then
In service for my fellow men.”

Edgar Guest

Source: The Path to Home (1919), p.36 - Compensation, stanza 1.

Thinking , Life , Men

“I look into the faces of the people passing by,
The glad ones and the sad ones, and the lined with misery,
And I wonder why the sorrow or the twinkle in the eye;
But the pale and weary faces are the ones that trouble me.”

Edgar Guest

Source: The Path to Home (1919), p.22 - Faces, stanza 1.

People , Sadness

“Whose luck is better far than ours?
The other fellow's.
Whose road seems always lined with flowers?
The other fellow's.
Who is the man who seems to get
Most joy in life, with least regret,
Who always seems to win his bet?
The other fellow.”

Edgar Guest

The Other Fellow, stanza 1.
Just Folks (1917)

Joy , Flowers , Life

“Oh, youth, go forth and do!
You, too, to fame may rise;
You can be strong and wise.
Stand up to life and play the man —
You can if you'll but think you can;
The great were once as you.
You envy them their proud success?
'Twas won with gifts that you possess.”

Edgar Guest

Source: All That Matters (1922), p.93 - To a Young Man, final stanza.

Strong , Youth , Success , Envy

“Are you one of the nine who pass men by
In this hasty life we live?
Do you refuse with a downcast eye
The help which you could give?
Or are you the one in ten whose creed
Is always to stop for the man in need?”

Edgar Guest

Source: All That Matters (1922), p.90 - The One in Ten, final stanza.

Help , Men , Life

“The difference 'twixt good and bad is not so very much,
A few more minutes at the task, an extra turn or touch,
A final test that all is right—and yet the men are few
Who seem to think it worth their while these extra things to do.”

Edgar Guest

Source: All That Matters (1922), p.50 - Clinching the Bolt, stanza 3.

Thinking , Men

“I must be fit for a child's glad greeting,
His are eyes that there is no cheating;
He must behold me in every test,
Not at my worst, but my very best;
He must be proud when my life is done
To have men know that he is my son.”

Edgar Guest

Source: All That Matters (1922), p.30 - The Boy's Ideal, final stanza.

Cheating , Life , Men

“Some day the world will need a man! I stand beside his cot at night
And wonder if I'm teaching him, as best I can, to know the right.
I am the father of a boy - his life is mine to make or mar -
And he no better can become than what my daily teachings are”

Edgar Guest

Source: Just Folks (1917), The Man To Be, lines from stanza 3.

Boy , World , Night , Life

“None knows the day that friends must part
None knows how near is sorrow;
If there be laughter in your heart
Don't hold it for tomorrow.”

Edgar Guest

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), A Song, opening lines, p. 34.

Heart , Parting , Laughter

“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.”

Edgar Guest

A Heap o' Livin' (1916)
Source: A Friend's Greeting, stanza 1, p. 33.

Help , Way