“We never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies.

The heroism we recite
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp
For fear to be a king.”

—  Emily Dickinson

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We never know how high we are Till we are called to rise; And then, if we are true to plan, Our statures touch the skie…" by Emily Dickinson?
Emily Dickinson photo
Emily Dickinson 187
American poet 1830–1886

Related quotes

Emily Dickinson photo

“We never know how high we are till we are called to rise. Then if we are true to form our statures touch the skies.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Source: Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

Daniel Defoe photo

“We never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.”

Daniel Defoe La vie et les aventures de Robinson Crusoe

Source: Robinson Crusoe (1719), Ch. 10, Tames Goats.

Julian of Norwich photo

“… we need to fall, and we need to be aware of it; for if we did not fall, we should not know how weak and wretched we are of ourselves, nor should we know our Maker's marvellous love so fully…”

Julian of Norwich book Revelations of Divine Love

Summations, Chapter 61
Source: Revelations of Divine Love
Context: If we never fell, we should not know how feeble and how wretched we are of our self, and also we should not fully know that marvellous love of our Maker. For we shall see verily in heaven, without end, that we have grievously sinned in this life, and notwithstanding this, we shall see that we were never hurt in His love, we were never the less of price in His sight. And by the assay of this falling we shall have an high, marvellous knowing of love in God, without end. For strong and marvellous is that love which may not, nor will not, be broken for trespass.

Thomas Edison photo

“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman

As quoted in Motivating Humans : Goals, Emotions, and Personal Agency Beliefs (1992) by Martin E. Ford, p. 17.
Date unknown
Variant: If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.

Corrie ten Boom photo

“We never know how God will answer our prayers, but we can expect that He will get us involved in His plan for the answer. If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in God’s work on behalf of the people for whom we pray.”

Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer
Jeff Flake photo

“We were not made great as a country by indulging in or even exalting our worst impulses, turning against ourselves, glorifying in the things that divide us, and calling fake things true and true things fake. And we did not become the beacon of freedom in the darkest corners of the world by flouting our institutions and failing to understand just how hard-won and vulnerable they are.”

Jeff Flake (1962) American politician

Speech in the U.S. Senate (2017)

Edwin Abbott Abbott photo

“Never shall we apprehend the nature of true divinity nor the true divineness of Jesus of Nazareth, the Carpenter's Son, till we learn to moralize our theology, training ourselves to lay less stress on "Almighty"”

Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) British theologian and author

an epithet characteristic of the silver age of Hebrew literature and of our Anglican Prayer Book, but never once used as an epithet of God by Him who knew Him as He is. By way of compensation, we must lay far more stress on "Wise" and "Good."
Paradosis : Or "In the Night in Which He Was (?) Betrayed" (1904), "Introduction : Paradosis or Delivering Up the Soul", p. 7

“We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves.”

Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) American psychologist

Attributed to Maslow by Toni Galardi in The LifeQuake Phenomenon: How to Thrive (Not Just Survive) in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval (2009). Also to be found in other self-help books and on many quotes sites, but always without citation.
Quotes attributed to Abraham Maslow

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“Take the actions of our nearest friends, and how little do we know of the hopes that instigated, or of the fears that prevailed! We sometimes cannot avoid owning that we ourselves have committed a fault, but how we gloss it over—how we take temperament and temptation into account, till at length it appears to be a thing inevitable redeemed by the regret it has occasioned, and the lesson it has given. Not so do we reason for others—then we look to the isolated fact, not to the causes: the error shuts out the excuse. The truth is, we know nothing of each other excepting by the aid of philosophy and of poetry; philosophy, that analyzes our thoughts, and poetry that expresses our feelings.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

The Monthly Magazine

Horace Bushnell photo

“We shall never recover the true apostolic energy, and be endued with power from on high, as the first disciples were, 'till we recover the lost faith.”

Horace Bushnell (1802–1876) American theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 237.

Related topics