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Man, having an ideal before him of that which he ought to be, and is not, and acting as though he possessed the character he ought to have, but has not, comes, by the very virtue of his aspiration, to possess the character he imagines.

William Batchelder Greene

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William Batchelder Greene
Age: 59 †
Born: 1819
Born: April 4
Died: 1878
Died: May 30
Mathematician
the United States of America
Men
Ideals
Ought
Virtue
Imagine
Imagines
Though
Aspiration
Acting
Possessed
Comes
Possess
Character
Ideal

More quotes by William Batchelder Greene

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The Ideal is the invisible Sun which is always on the meridian of the soul.
William Batchelder Greene
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Thou Moon! Sun of the Night, Sister mystic of the Day Look down, pause in thy flight! Calm me with thy aural ray, Enchanting souls to silver sleep. Look down from out thy airy keep, My fevered senses hypnotize Shut out the World, whereto Mind flies-- Ambitious Mind, with travail sore Its fibre rest, its calm restore.
William Batchelder Greene
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Some fearful sights there be that creep By night - I mean that harass sleep But tenfold more alarming seem these when They brave the day, to breathe the air like men.
William Batchelder Greene
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Truth was truth, whether I darkened my eyes to it or not.
William Batchelder Greene
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Hide what you have to hide And tell what you have to tell You'll see your problems multiplied If you continually decide To faithfully pursue The policy of truth
William Batchelder Greene
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Faith is reason denying absurdity in the face of the unknown.
William Batchelder Greene
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Thou slanting rain! Thou Hebe of the Skies, That pours out drink to Earth thou faithful wife That with moist tears embraces her prone lord. Thou mist intensified thou double dew That drowns the drought, that heals the parched and burnt -- Thou resurrection rain.
William Batchelder Greene
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Faith may always be acquired. Whoso is devoid of faith, and desires to have it, may acquire it by living for a few days (sometimes for a few hours only) as though he already possessed it. It is by practical, not theoretical, religion, that men transform their lives.
William Batchelder Greene
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Man's life is entirely in his operations, which may all be classed under three heads: he thinks, he feels, and he acts -- these three modes of activity exhaust his powers.
William Batchelder Greene
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What is it to be rich? It is to have an assured income in excess of expenditures, and to have no occasion for anxiety for the morrow. It is to be above the necessity of living from hand to mouth. It is to be able (or to have grounds to insanely suppose one's self to be able) to live outside of God's providence.
William Batchelder Greene
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Woman, thou art a river, deep and wide, Of waters soft and sweet: Alas! I've never reached the other side Though oft I've wet my feet!
William Batchelder Greene
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Like a goddess on her azure hill, the star of my ambition, the mistress of my dream a thing apart, that we can worship, but not touch a wild desire, that, in the madness of the thought, soars higher in its dignity, and leaves me weeping in the dust.
William Batchelder Greene
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If it be true that God and man are in one image or likeness (and the affirmation that they are so is not unplausible) then it is the duty of man to bring out into its full splendor that Divine Image which is latent, on one side, in the complexity of his own nature.
William Batchelder Greene
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Life is a waste of woes, And Death a river deep, That ever onward flows, Troubled, yet asleep.
William Batchelder Greene
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For man, the death of the body is inevitable, and is determined by time and circumstance but, with proper precaution, the death of the soul may be totally avoided.
William Batchelder Greene
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How Time doth lash us with sharp pains, Set loose our teeth, snatch wisps of hair, dim eyes -- And finally bend our backs toward earth To find the fittest place for burial.
William Batchelder Greene
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Society is older than government. But every persisting society implies the existence of government and laws for a society without government and laws is at once overturned by its madmen and scoundrels and lapses into barbarism.
William Batchelder Greene