John Hay Quotes

• The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it.

  John Hay

  Tyrants, Evil, Liberty

  John Hay (1871). “Castilian Days”, p.28

  53 Copy quote

• Dealing with a government with whom mendacity is a science is an extremely difficult matter.

  John Hay

  Government, Matter, Mendacity

  30 Copy quote

• Speak with the speech of the world; think with the thoughts of the few.

  John Hay

  Thinking, Speech, World

  John Hay (1984). “John Hay's Pike County: two tales and seven ballads”

  20 Copy quote

• Friends are the sunshine of life.

  John Hay

  Love, Friendship, Relationship

  John Hay (1913). “Poems”

  23 Copy quote

• True luck consists not in holding the best of the cards at the table; luckiest is he who knows just when to rise and go home.

  John Hay

  Money, Home, Gambling

  Distichs no. 15 (1890)

  17 Copy quote

• There are occasions when you can hear the mysterious language of the Earth, in water, or coming through the trees, emanating from the mosses, seeping through the under currents of the soil, but you have to be willing to wait and receive.

  John Hay

  Nature, Water, Tree

  59 Copy quote

• Make all good men your well-wishers, and then, in the years' steady sifting, Some of them turn into friends. Friends are the sunshine of life.

  John Hay

  Friendship, Sunshine, Men

  John Hay (1913). “Poems”

  12 Copy quote

• The people will come to their own at last,-God is not mocked forever.

  John Hay

  People, Forever, Lasts

  John Hay (1871). “Pike County Ballads and Other Pieces”, p.41

  10 Copy quote

• What is first love worth, except to prepare for a second? What does second love bring? Only regret for the first.

  John Hay

  Love, Regret, Doe

  John Hay (1871). “Pike County Ballads and Other Pieces”, p.142

  5 Copy quote

• The use of proverbs is characteristic of an unlettered people. They are invaluable treasures to dunces with good memories.

  John Hay

  Memories, People, Use

  John Hay (1897). “Castilian Days”

  7 Copy quote

• At my door the Pale Horse stands to carry me to unknown lands.

  John Hay

  Horse, Doors, Land

  John Hay (1916). “The Complete Poetical Works of John Hay: Including Many Poems Now First Collected”

  10 Copy quote

• There are three species of creatures who when they seem coming are going, when they seem going they come: diplomats, women, and crabs.

  John Hay

  Three, Diplomats, Crabs

  John Hay, “Distichs”

  11 Copy quote

• I think that saving a little child And bringing him to his own, Is a derned sight better business Than loafing around the throne.

  John Hay

  Children, Thinking, Sight

  John Hay (1871). “Pike County Ballads and Other Pieces”, p.16

  10 Copy quote

• It would never occur to most of us that 'plants' say anything at all, except in terms of what we read into them, or try to use them for. Yet in their responses to this wonderfully rhythmic and varying earth they are the most expressive of all forms of life.

  John Hay

  Religion, Say Anything, Gardening

  4 Copy quote

• Break not the rose; its fragrance and beauty are surely sufficient, resting contented with these, never a thorn shall you feel.

  John Hay

  Flower, Rose, Break

  John Hay (1916). “The Complete Poetical Works of John Hay: Including Many Poems Now First Collected”

  9 Copy quote

• Maidens! why should you worry in choosing whom you shall marry? Choose whom you may, you will find you have got somebody else.

  John Hay

  Marriage, Worry, May

  John Hay (1916). “The Complete Poetical Works of John Hay: Including Many Poems Now First Collected”

  8 Copy quote

• Unto each man comes a day when his favorite sins all forsake him, And he complacently thinks he has forsaken his sins.

  John Hay

  Men, Thinking, Age

  John Hay (1916). “The Complete Poetical Works of John Hay: Including Many Poems Now First Collected”

  6 Copy quote

• The best loved man or maid in the town would perish with anguish Could they hear all that their friends say in the course of a day.

  John Hay

  Best Love, Men, Gossip

  John Hay (1913). “Poems”

  7 Copy quote

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