The wisest man could ask no more of Fate
Than to be simple, modest, manly, true,
Safe from the Many—honored by the Few;
To count as naught in World or Church or State;
But inwardly in secret to be great.


Sonnet. Jeffries Wyman. - Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

James Russell Lowell Quotes

The wisest man could ask no more of Fate Than to be simple, modest, manly, true, Safe from the Many—honored by the Few; To count as naught in World ...

The wisest man could ask no more of Fate Than to be simple, modest, manly, true, Safe from the Many—honored by the Few; To count as naught in World ...

The wisest man could ask no more of Fate Than to be simple, modest, manly, true, Safe from the Many—honored by the Few; To count as naught in World ...

The wisest man could ask no more of Fate Than to be simple, modest, manly, true, Safe from the Many—honored by the Few; To count as naught in World ...