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Edgar Guest citations

Edgar Guest était écrivain américain.

✵ 20. août 1881 – 5. août 1959
Edgar Guest photo
Edgar Guest: 61   citations 0   J'aime

Edgar Guest: Citations en anglais

“Less hate and greed
Is what we need
And more of service true;
More men to love
The flag above
And keep it first in view.Less boast and brag
About the flag,
More faith in what it means;
More heads erect,
More self-respect,
Less talk of war machines.”

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Edgar Guest

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), Our Duty to Our Flag, stanzas 1-2, p. 59.

“Can't is the word that is foe to ambition,
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
Its prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and skill.
Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed 'twill break any man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: "I can."”

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Edgar Guest

Can't, stanza 4, p. 54.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“No man is greater than his will;
No gods to him will lend a hand!
Upon his courage and his skill
The record of his life must stand.
What honors shall befall to him,
What he shall claim of fame or pelf,
Depend not on the favoring whim
Of fortune's god, but on himself.”

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Edgar Guest

Source: Just Folks (1917), There Are No Gods, final stanza.

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), Opportunity, p. 40.

“Life is a jest;
Take the delight of it.
Laughter is best;
Sing through the night of it.
Swiftly the tear
And the hurt and the ache of it
Find us down here;
Life must be what we make of it.”

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Edgar Guest

Life, stanza 1, All That Matters, p. 80 (1922).

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

Results and Roses, stanza 2, p. 57.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“I'm not the man to say that failure's sweet,
Nor tell a chap to laugh when things go wrong;
I know it hurts to have to take defeat
An' no one likes to lose before a throng;
It isn't very pleasant not to win
When you have done the very best you could;
But if you're down, get up an' buckle in—
A lickin' often does a fellow good.”

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Edgar Guest

Hard Knocks, stanza 1, p. 44.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

Defeat, stanza 1, p. 112.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home,
A heap o' sun an' shadder, an' ye sometimes have t' roam
Afore ye really 'preciate the things ye lef' behind,
An' hunger fer 'em somehow, with 'em allus on yer mind.
It don't make any differunce how rich ye get t' be,
How much yer chairs an' tables cost, how great yer luxury;
It ain't home t' ye, though it be the palace of a king,
Until somehow yer soul is sort o' wrapped round everything.”

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Edgar Guest

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), Home, stanza 1, p. 29.

“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 be'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.”

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Edgar Guest

At Christmas, stanza 1.
Just Folks (1917)

“Only a dad with a tired face,
Coming home from the daily race,
Bringing little of gold or fame
To show how well he has played the game;
But glad in his heart that his own rejoice
To see him come and to hear his voice.”

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Edgar Guest

Only a Dad, stanza 1, p. 43.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“When you get to know a fellow, know his joys and know his cares,
When you've come to understand him and the burdens that he bears,
When you've learned the fight he's making and the troubles in his way,
Then you find that he is different than you thought him yesterday.
You find his faults are trivial and there's not so much to blame
In the brother that you jeered at when you only knew his name.”

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Edgar Guest

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), When You Know a Fellow, stanza 1, p. 12.

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

It Isn't Costly, stanza 3, p. 15.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“To have no secret place wherein
I stoop unseen to shame or sin;
To be the same when I'm alone
As when my every deed is known;
To live undaunted, unafraid
Of any step that I have made;
To be without pretense or sham
Exactly what men think I am.”

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Edgar Guest

My Creed, stanza 2, p. 16.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“God grant me these: the strength to do
Some needed service here;
The wisdom to be brave and true;
The gift of vision clear,
That in each task that comes to me
Some purpose I may plainly see.God teach me to believe that I
Am stationed at a post,
Although the humblest 'neath the sky,
Where I am needed most.
And that, at last, if I do well
My humble services will tell.God grant me faith to stand on guard,
Uncheered, unspoke, alone,
And see behind such duty hard
My service to the throne.
Whate'er my task, be this my creed:
I am on earth to fill a need.”

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Edgar Guest

Source: A Plea, The Path to Home, p. 17 (1919).

“Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
"maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
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.”

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Edgar Guest

Source: It Couldn't Be Done, stanza 1, The Path to Home, p. 38 (1919).

“You can do as much as you think you can,
But you'll never accomplish more;
If you're afraid of yourself, young man,
There's little for you in store.
For failure comes from the inside first,
It's there if we only knew it,
And you can win, though you face the worst,
If you feel that you're going to do it.”

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Edgar Guest

A Heap o' Livin' (1916)
Source: How Do You Tackle Your Work, stanza 2, p. 63.

“The joy of life is living it, or so it seems to me;
In finding shackles on your wrists, then struggling till you're free;
In seeing wrongs and righting them, in dreaming splendid dreams,
Then toiling till the vision is as real as moving streams.
The happiest mortal on the earth is he who ends his day
By leaving better than he found to bloom along the way.”

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Edgar Guest

Improvement, stanza 1.
Just Folks (1917)

“"How much do babies cost?" said he
The other night upon my knee;
And then I said: "They cost a lot;
A lot of watching by a cot,
A lot of sleepless hours and care,
A lot of heart-ache and despair,
A lot of fear and trying dread,
And sometimes many tears are shed
In payment for our babies small,
But every one is worth it all.”

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Edgar Guest

What a Baby Costs, stanza 1, p. 19.
A Heap o' Livin' (1916)

“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!”

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Edgar Guest

See It Through, stanza 1.
Just Folks (1917)

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

Success.
Just Folks (1917)

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

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

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

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

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

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

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

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

“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!”

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Edgar Guest

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

“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?”

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Edgar Guest

Arcady, first stanza.
The Passing Throng (1923)

“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!"”

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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)

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

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

“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.”

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Edgar Guest

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

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