worthy of the honey-comb
That shuns the hive because the bees have stings.

--William Shakespeare.

One by one thy duties wait thee,
Let thy whole strength go to each.
Let no future dreams elate thee,
Learn thou first what these can teach.

--Adelaide Anne Procter.

Give me heart-touch with all that live
And strength to speak my word;
But if that is denied me, give
The strength to live unheard.

--Edwin Markham.

Honor and shame from no condition rise;
Act well your part, there all the honor lies

--Alexander Pope.

How wretched is the man with honors crowned,
Who, having not the one thing needful found,
Dies, known to all, but to himself unknown.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

He fought a thousand glorious wars,
And more than half the world was his,
And somewhere, now, in yonder stars,
Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is.

--William Makepeace Thackeray.

Howe'er it be, it seems to me
'Tis only noble to be good;
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood.

--Alfred Tennyson.

I've learned to prize the quiet, lightning deed,
Not the applauding thunder at its heels
Which men call fame.

--Alexander Smith.

It is worth while to live!
Be of good cheer;
Love casts out fear;
Rise up, achieve.

--Christina G. Rossetti.

No endeavor is in vain;
Its reward is in the doing,
And the rapture of pursuing
Is the prize the vanquished gain.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Far better in its place the lowliest bird
Should sing aright to Him the lowliest song,
Than that a seraph strayed should take the word
And sing His glory wrong.

--Jean Ingelow.

Often ornateness
Goes with greatness.
Oftener felicity
Comes of simplicity.

--William Watson.

A jewel is a jewel still, though lying in the dust,
And sand is sand, though up to heaven by the tempest thrust.

--From the Persian.

Vulgar souls surpass a rare one in the headlong rush;
As the hard and worthless stones a precious pearl will crush.

--From the Persian.

Be noble! and the nobleness that lies
In other men, sleeping, but never dead,
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.

--James Russell Lowell.