John Kendrick Bangs Quotes

• I can't tell a lie - not even when I hear one.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Lying, I Can

  John Kendrick Bangs (2015). “A House-Boat on the Styx: Bangs Classic Collection”, p.18, 谷月社

  45 Copy quote

• What fools indeed we morals are to lavish care upon a car, with never a bit of time to see about our own machinery!

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Health, Car, Body

  4 Copy quote

• I like the man who takes the stones Upon his rocky road With smiling lips instead of groans, Whate'er his heavy load Who seizes each as on he goes, And neatly crumbles it, And turns his share of pebbly woes To stores of inner grit.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Attitude, Men, Grit

  John Kendrick Bangs (1920). “The Cheery Way: A Bit of Verse for Every Day”

  7 Copy quote

• You know the Model of your Car. You know just what its powers are. You treat it with a deal of care, Nor tax it more than it will bear. But as to self — that's different. Your mechanism may be bent, Your carbureter gone to grass, Your engine just a rusty mass. Your wheels may wobble and your cogs Be handed over to the dogs, And on you skip, and skid, and slide, Without a thought of things inside. What fools indeed we mortals are To lavish care upon a Car, With ne'er a bit of time to see About our own machinery!

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Dog, Self, Car

  John Kendrick Bangs (1920). “The Cheery Way: A Bit of Verse for Every Day”

  9 Copy quote

• Pandemonium did not reign; it poured.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Reign, Chaos, Pandemonium

  John Kendrick Bangs (2015). “From Pillar to Post: Bangs Classic Collection”, p.17, 谷月社

  55 Copy quote

• I have no dog, but it must be Somewhere there's one belongs to me-- A little chap with wagging tail, And dark brown eyes that never quail, But look you through, and through, and through, With love unspeakable and true.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Dog, Eye, Dark

  17 Copy quote

• Although man is already ninety per cent water, the Prohibitionists are not yet satisfied.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Men, Water, Liberty

  9 Copy quote

• Whatever be the depth of woe Along the path that I must go, I'll sing my song— My song of joy for all the love That's lavished on us from above, And count no loss of treasure-trove When things go wrong. I'll sing the sunlight, and the bright Soft smiling stars that gem the night; For gifts of good That God hath spread along my way, The lilt of birds in tuneful play, The harvests full and flowers gay, The whole day long I'll sing my song Of gratitude!

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Song, Gratitude, Stars

  9 Copy quote

• For me, my craft is sailing on,Through mists to-day, clear seas anon.Whate'er the final harbor be'T is good to sail upon the sea!

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Sea, Sailing, Finals

  7 Copy quote

• Whose heart doth hold the Christmas glow Hath little need of Mistletoe; Who bears a smiling grace of mien Need waste no time on wreaths of green; Whose lips have words of comfort spread Needs not the holly-berries red— His very presence scatters wide The spirit of the Christmastide.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Christmas, Heart, Grace

  26 Copy quote

• If I must have an ill, may it be real, That I may meet it eye to eye and fight, And wheresoever it may strength reveal Get after it with all my main and might. The woe that but impends and wears the mind With worry deep and most vexatious care, Is harder fighting than the realler kind, For when you come to strike—it isn't there!

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Real, Eye, Fighting

  6 Copy quote

• Misery loves company, particularly when she is herself the hostess, and can give generously of her stores to others.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Giving, Misery, Stores

  John Kendrick Bangs (2015). “The Water Ghost and Others: Bangs Classic Collection”, p.11, 谷月社

  6 Copy quote

• A nasty day! A nasty day! 'Twas thus I heard a critic say Because the skies were bleak and gray— And yet it somehow seemed to me The day was all that it should be. I looked it very closely o'er; Its hours still were twenty-four, With sixty minutes each—no less— For deeds of good and helpfulness; And every second full of chance To give the day significance; And every hour full of growth For everybody but the sloth— I couldn't see it quite that way, For though the skies were bleak and gray The day itself, it seemed to me, Was all a day could rightly be.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Attitude, Sixty Minutes, Sky

  John Kendrick Bangs (1920). “The Cheery Way: A Bit of Verse for Every Day”

  8 Copy quote

• If I had my way no one should be taught to read until after he had passed his hundredth year. In that way, and in that way only can we protect our youth from the dreadful influence of such novels as 'Three Cycles, Not To Mention The Rug,' which dreadful book I have found within the past month in the hands of at least twenty children in the neighborhood, not one of whom was past sixty.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Children, Book, Past

  John Kendrick Bangs (2014). “The Autobiography of Methuselah”, p.18, Simon and Schuster

  6 Copy quote

• Bring forth the raisins and the nuts-
  Tonight All-Hallows' Spectre struts
  Along the moonlit way.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Halloween, Nuts, Way

  9 Copy quote

• The only care That I shall share Shall be the care of others, And on the road I'll halve the load Of overburdened brothers. I rather guess It's selfishness That drives me to such actions, For in this plan I find I can Forget my own distractions.

  John Kendrick Bangs

  Brother, Selfishness, Care

  John Kendrick Bangs (1920). “The Cheery Way: A Bit of Verse for Every Day”

  4 Copy quote

• Comes now a smiling New-Born Year To fill to-day with goodly cheer— An infant hale and lusty. Upon our door-sill he is left By Daddy Time, of clothes bereft Despite the season gusty. If he be Churl or doughty Knight, A Son of Darkness or of Light No man can tell, God bless him! But be he base or glorious Time puts it wholly up to us To dress him!

  John Kendrick Bangs

  New Year, Cheer, Son

  4 Copy quote

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