Fortune is the rod of the weak, and the staff of the brave.
James Russell Lowell

Freedom is the only law which genius knows.
James Russell Lowell

Good luck is the willing handmaid of a upright and energetic character, and conscientious observance of duty.
James Russell Lowell

Greatly begin. Though thou have time, but for a line, be that sublime. Not failure, but low aim is crime.
James Russell Lowell

He who is firmly seated in authority soon learns to think security, and not progress, the highest lesson in statecraft.
James Russell Lowell

I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.
James Russell Lowell

If youth be a defect, it is one that we outgrow only too soon.
James Russell Lowell

In creating, the only hard thing is to begin: a grass blade's no easier to make than an oak.
James Russell Lowell

In the ocean of baseness, the deeper we get, the easier the sinking.
James Russell Lowell

Incredulity robs us of many pleasures, and gives us nothing in return.
James Russell Lowell

It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of man is tested.
James Russell Lowell

It is the privilege of genius that life never grows common place, as it does for the rest of us.
James Russell Lowell

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how.
James Russell Lowell

Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.
James Russell Lowell

Light is the symbol of truth.
James Russell Lowell

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.
James Russell Lowell

No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.
James Russell Lowell

Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
James Russell Lowell

On one issue at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women.
James Russell Lowell

Once to every person and nation come the moment to decide. In the conflict of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side.
James Russell Lowell