“I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side, spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone." Gone where? Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast, hull and spar as she was when she left my side. And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port. Her diminished size is in me -- not in her. And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone," there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!" And that is dying...”
"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity."
- Henry van Dyke
Love
"A friend is what the heart needs all the time."
- Henry van Dyke
Relationships
""Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers -- a living prismatic gem ... it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description.""
- Henry van Dyke
Inspiration
"Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."
- Henry van Dyke
Belief in Self
"There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas."
- Henry van Dyke
Reflection
"It is at the moment of death that humanity has value."
- Archer
Philosophy
"Religion, ideology, resources, land, spite, love or just because… No matter how pathetic the reason, it’s enough to start a war. War will never cease to exist… reasons can be thought up after the fact… Human nature pursues strife."
- Paine
Philosophy
"Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves."
- Eric Sevareid
Philosophy
"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"
- Theodor Seuss Geisel
Philosophy
"Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home."
- G.K. Chesterton
Philosophy