Henry van Dyke Quotes

• How silent the woods would be if only the best birds sang.

  Henry van Dyke

  Topics in Opportunity

• Use what talents you possess; The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

  Henry van Dyke

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Excellence

• Some people are so afraid do die that they never begin to live.

  Henry van Dyke

  Topics in Death

  Tags in People, Die
• 

  Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.

  Henry van Dyke

  Topics in Inspirational, Life

• What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

  Henry van Dyke

• What we do belongs to what we are; and what we are is what becomes of us.

  Henry van Dyke

• Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

  Henry van Dyke

• To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something which shall really increase the happiness and welfare and virtue of mankind – this is a choice which is possible for all of us; and surely it is a good haven to sail for.

  Henry van Dyke

• There is only one way to get ready for immortality, and that is to love this life and live it as bravely and faithfully and cheerfully as we can.

  Henry van Dyke

• There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.

  Henry van Dyke

• There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.

  Henry van Dyke

• There are two good rules which ought to be written on every heart – never to believe anything bad about anybody unless you positively know it to be true; never to tell even that unless you feel that it is absolutely necessary, and that God is listening.

  Henry van Dyke

• The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.

  Henry van Dyke

• Many a treasure besides Ali Baba’s is unlocked with a verbal key.

  Henry van Dyke

• Love is the best thing in the world and the thing that lives the longest.

  Henry van Dyke

• Look around for a place to sow a few seeds.

  Henry van Dyke

• It is with rivers as it is with people: the greatest are not always the most agreeable nor the best to live with.

  Henry van Dyke

• In the progress of personality, first comes a declaration of independence, then a recognition of interdependence.

  Henry van Dyke

• Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.

  Henry van Dyke

• Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain ideas that every man is bound to be a critic for life.

  Henry van Dyke

Henry van Dyke (27)

Birth:	10th November, 1852
Death:	10th April, 1933
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Author, Pastor, Professor

About

Henry Jackson van Dyke was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, USA. He was an American author, pastor and professor, known for his works which included short stories, poems, and essays. He received his M.A. degree from Princeton University in 1876. He served as a professor of English literature at Princeton between 1899 - 1923. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was a successful minister and served efficiently to his country when he became the Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1913. His important works include “The Poetry of Tennyson”, “The Other Wise Man”, and “The First Christmas Tree“. In 1979, he joined the Presbyterian ministry and four years later became the pastor of the famous Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.

Related Authors

• Richard Armour
• Andy Serkis
• Lao Tzu
• Richard Holbrooke
• John Geddes
• Stedman Graham
• Anthony Bourdain
• George Packer
• Amish Tripathi
• Erik Larson

Advertisement

Today's Anniversary - 23rd December

Births

• 1908 - Yousuf Karsh
• 1950 - Michael C. Burgess
• 1947 - William Henry Rodgers
• 1812 - Samuel Smiles
• 1802 - Sara Coleridge

Deaths

• 1972 - Abraham Joshua Heschel
• 1873 - Sarah Grimke
• 2007 - Oscar Emmanuel Peterson
• 1834 - Thomas Robert Malthus
• 1959 - Lord Halifax