Martin Farquhar Tupper Quotes

96 Sourced Quotes

A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Better is the wrong with sincerity, rather than the right with falsehood.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Contend not in wisdom with a fool, for thy sense maketh much of his conceit; And some errors never would have thriven, had it not been for learned refutation.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
As frost to the bud, and blight to the blossom, even such is self-interest to friendship; for confidence cannot dwell where selfishness is porter at the gate.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
A spark is a molecule of matter, yet may it kindle the world; vast is the mighty ocean, but drops have made it vast. Despise not thou small things, either for evil or for good; for a look may work thy ruin, or a word create thy wealth.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Thought paceth like a hoary sage, but imagination hath wings as an eagle.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Alike to the slave and his oppressor cometh night with sweet refreshment, and half of the life of the most wretched is gladdened by the soothings of sleep.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Mind is a kingdom to the man who gathereth his pleasure from ideas.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter: To what shall their rarity be likened? What prices shall count their worth? Perfect, and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches, No lovely thing on earth can picture their fair beauty. They be chance pearls, flung among the rocks by the sullen waters of Oblivion.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
If thou wilt think evil of thy neighbour, soon shalt thou have him for thy foe.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Lay not the plummet to the line; religion hath no landmarks; no human keenness can discern the subtle shades of faith.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
I have sped by land and sea, and mingled with much people, but never yet could find a spot unsunned by human kindness.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
The sun of the mind, and the life of the heart is Wisdom. She is pure and full of light, crowning grey hairs with lustre, And kindling the eye of youth with a fire not its own.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Praise a fool, and slay him; for the canvas of his vanity is spread; His bark is shallow in the water, and a sudden gust shall sink it: Praise a wise man, and speed him on his way; for he carrieth the ballast of humility, And is glad when his course is cheered by the sympathy of brethren ashore.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Knowledge is leagued with the universe, and findeth a friend in all things; but ignorance is everywhere a stranger, unwelcome; ill at ease and out of place.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Humility is the softening shadow before the stature of Excellence, And lieth lowly on the ground, beloved and lovely as the violet.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Speech is the golden harvest that followeth the flowering of thought.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
A man looketh on his little one as a being of better hope; in himself ambition is dead, but it bath a resurrection in his son.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Our cares are all To-day, our joys are all To-day;
And in one little word, our life, what is it but--To-day?

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Faith may rise into miracles of might, as some few wise men have shown; faith may sink into credulities of weakness, as the mass of fools have witnessed.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Man liveth from hour to hour, and knoweth not what may happen; Influences circle him on all sides, and yet must he answer for his actions: For the being that is master of himself, bendeth events to his will, But a slave to selfish passions is the wavering creature of circumstance.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
As thou directest the power, harm or advantage will follow, and the torrent that swept the valley may be led to turn a mill.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
If wealth come, beware of him, the smooth, false friend! There is treachery in his proffered hand; his tongue is eloquent to tempt; lust of many harms is lurking in his eye; he hath a hollow heart; use him cautiously.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Betray mean terror of ridicule, thou shalt find fools enough to mock thee; but answer thou their language with contempt, and the scoffers will lick thy feet.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
Policy counselleth a gift, given wisely and in season;
And policy afterwards approveth it, for great is the influence of gifts.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
To be accurate, write; to remember, write; to know thine own mind, write.
And a written prayer is a prayer of faith, special, sure, and to be answered.

Martin Farquhar Tupper
True wisdom, laboring to expound, heareth others readily;
False wisdom, sturdy to deny, closeth up her mind to argument.

Martin Farquhar Tupper