Build me straight, O worthy Master! Stanch and strong, a goodly…

Build me straight, O worthy Master!
Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel,
That shall laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!

Sourced, The Building of the Ship
(1849)

l. 1-4

Other Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Quotes

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. - View Quote Details on Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other…
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate’er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man. - View Quote Details on His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate’er he…
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day’s occupation,
That is known as the Children’s Hour. - View Quote Details on Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning…
The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;
The secret anniversaries of the heart,
When the full river of feeling overflows. - View Quote Details on The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in…
“O father! I see a gleaming light.
Oh say, what may it be?”
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he. - View Quote Details on Oh say, what may...">“O father! I see a gleaming light.
Oh say, what may…
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all. - View Quote Details on Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind…
Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said;
For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead. - View Quote Details on Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung…
Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels. - View Quote Details on Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,
Blossomed…
Ah, how wonderful is the advent of spring! — the great annual miracle of the blossoming of Aaron’s rod, repeated on myriads and myriads of branches! — the gentle progression and growth of herbs, flowers, trees, — gentle and yet irrepressible, — which no force can stay, no violence restrain, like love, that wins its way and cannot be withstood by any human power, because itself is divine power. If spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! But now the silent succession suggests nothing but necessity. To most men only the cessation of the miracle would be miraculous and the perpetual exercise of God’s power seems less wonderful than its withdrawal would be. - View Quote Details on Ah, how wonderful is the advent of spring! — the…
There is no flock, however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there!
There is no fireside, howsoe’er defended,
But has one vacant chair! - View Quote Details on There is no flock, however watched and tended,
But one dead…