—Hale
Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on.
'Twas not given for you alone,
Pass it on.
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears;
Till in heaven the deed appears.
Pass it on.
A little spring had lost its way
Amid the grass and fern;
A passing stranger scooped a well
Where weary men might turn.
He walled it in, and hung with care,
A ladle on the brink;
He thought not of the deed he did,
But judged that Toil might drink.
He passed again; and lo! the well,
By summer never dried,
Had cooled ten thousand parchèd tongues,
And saved a life beside.
—Mackay
Evil is wrought by want of thought
As well as want of heart.
—Hood
Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.—Epictetus
Count that day lost whose low-descending sun
Views from thy hand no worthy action done.
If happiness have not her seat
And centre in the breast,
We may be wise or rich or great,
But never can be blest.