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Sarah Josepha Hale

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What has made this nation great? Not its heroes, but its households.

Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788 – April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil War, Godey's Lady's Book. She was the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known as Thanksgiving, and for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument.

Quotes

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  • In this age of innovation, perhaps no experiment will have an influence more important on the character and happiness of our society, than the granting to females the advantages of ... education. The honor of this triumph ... belongs to the men of America. They appear willing to risk the hazard of proving, experimentally, whether that degree of literature, which only can qualify woman to become ... an instructive as well as agreeable friend, be compatible with the cheerful discharge of her domestic duties, and that delicacy of feeling, and love of retirement, which nature so obviously imposes on the sex.
    • "Introduction"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 1, no. 1 (January 1828), pp. 1–2
  • All that I intended was, that self-control, in every station and to every individual, is indispensable, if people would retain that equanimity of mind, which depending on self-respect, is the essential of contentment and happiness.
    • "Sketches of American Character: The Wedding and the Funeral"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 1, no. 3 (March 1828), p. 104
  • Readers soon tire of prefaces, and skip them, and so the labor of writing them is lost.
    • "Sketches of American Character: The Village Schoolmistress"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 1, no. 5 (May 1828), p. 205
  • A day of bliss is quickly told,
    A thousand would not make us old
       As one of sorrow doth—
    It is by cares, by woes and tears,
    We round the sum of human years——
    • "Sketches of American Character: Prejudices"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 1, no. 9 (September 1828), p. 397
  • Her husband requested she would read, and she determined to read; her husband wished her to talk, and she resolved to talk. ... Then she had the habit into which your poor conversationalists usually fall, namely, asking questions.
    • "Sketches of American Character: William Forbes"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 1, no. 11 (November 1828), p. 499
  • There is something in the decay of nature that awakens thought, even in the most trifling mind. The person who can regard the changes in the forest foliage,—that can watch the slow circles of the dead leaf, as it falls from the bough of some lofty tree, till it mingles with the thousands already covering the ground beneath, and not moralize is—not a person that I would advise to retire to the country, in search of happiness. He or she had better stay in the city and be amused. Those who cannot think, have, in my opinion, a necessity (which goes very far towards creating a right) for amusement.
    • "Sketches of American Character: A Winter in the Country"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 1, no. 12 (December 1828), p. 537
  • There is no influence so powerful as that of the mother. ... But next in rank and efficacy to that pure and holy source of moral influence, is that of the schoolmaster.
    • "The Beginning"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 2, no. 1 (January 1829), p. 4
  • Americans have two ardent passions; the love of liberty, and love of distinction. These passions mutually stimulate and increase each other ; the enjoyment of equal rights as citizens giving every man a chance of becoming eminent, and that eminence being derived from living under a free government, the Americans are thus necessarily as ambitious of fame as they are tenacious of freedom.
    • "Sketches of American Character: Captain Glover's Daughter"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 2, no. 6 (June 1829), p. 262
  • Why is it that water, so monotonous in its characteristics, should nevertheless, possess a charm for every mind? I believe it is chiefly because it bears the impress of the Creator, which we feel neither the power of time or of man can efface or alter.
  • Some one has called flowers the poetry of earth. They are only its Lyrical poetry. Water is the grand Epic of creation; and there is not a human soul but feels the influence of its majesty, its power or its beauty.
  • There is hardly a more heart-thrilling pleasure enjoyed by mortals, than that which parents feel when seeing their child first being able to 'catch knowledge of objects.'
    • "Sketches of American Character: The Romance of Travelling"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 2, no. 10 (October 1829), pp. 453, 456
  • Riches are always overestimated; the enjoyment they give is more in the pursuit than the possession.
  • Happiness is, in truth, a very cheap thing when the heart will be contented to traffic with nature—art has quite a different price.
  • It requires but a few threads of hope, for the heart that is skilled in the secret, to weave a web of happiness.
  • There are few sensations more painful than in the midst of deep grief, to know the season which we have always associated with mirth and rejoicing is at hand.
    • "Sketches of American Character: The Thanksgiving of the Heart"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 2, no. 11 (November 1829), pp. 520, 522–23, 524
  • There is small danger of being starved in our land of plenty; but the danger of being stuffed is imminent, and yet hardly a thought is bestowed on the subject by those who direct the public sentiment.
  • You may indulge any childish propensity with less injury to the intellect than that of gluttony. Eating to excess constantly will deaden or destroy the energies of the mind, while those of the animal are increased, till the immortal becomes perfectly swinish—and yet many tender, delicate mothers seem to think, that to make their children eat is all that is requisite to make them great.
    • "Sketches of American Character: The Fate of a Favorite"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 2, no. 12 (December 1829), p. 68
  • Mr. and Mrs. R. persuaded themselves that, while they kept the Sabbath day with pharisaical strictness, the other six days were their own. They strove for earth and sighed for heaven, and failed of enjoyment in the pursuit of either.
  • What a ready passport wealth gives its possessor to the good opinions of this world!
    • "Sketchers of American Character: The Unknown"; Ladies Magazine and Literary Gazette, vol. 3, no. 8 (August 1830), pp. 339, 352
  • Mary had a little lamb,
       Its fleece was white as snow,
    And every where that Mary went
       The lamb was sure to go.
  • And you each gentle animal
       In confidence may bind,
    And make them follow at your call,
       If you are always kind.
    • "Mary's Lamb", st. 3; Poems for our Children (1830), pp. 6–7
  • The violet bank, the moss-fringed seat
       Beneath the drooping tree.
    • "Stanzas (I Sing to Him)", st. 3; Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette, vol. 5, no. 3 (March 1832), p. 127
  • To speak without metaphor—the engrossing pursuit of Americans is wealth.
  • What in the rising man was industry and economy, becomes in the rich man parsimony and avarice.
    • "Sketches of American Characters: The Lloyds"; Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette, vol. 5, no. 4 (April 1832), p. 156
  • A man is never more self satisfied than when he is confirming a favorite theory.
    • "Sketches of American Character: The Lloyds"; Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette, vol. 5, no. 5 (May 1832), p. 197
  • It is a bad business, dealing in lottery tickets...Riches got in such a hasty manner never wear well.
  • This is a speculating and selfish age; and to think "money will answer all things," is too much the characteristic of Americans.
  • A few hundred dollars will dry the weeping eyes of the most despairing damsel, and make her think the defection of her plighted swain a very lucky speculation—and so instead of breaking her own heart, she very coolly determines to break his credit, comforting herself with the thought that cash is more current than love.
    • "Sketches of American Character: The Lottery Ticket"; Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette, vol. 5, no. 10 (October 1832), pp. 459, 460
O, beautiful rainbow;—all woven of light!—
There's not in thy tissue, one shadow of night;
Heaven surely is open when thou dost appear,
And, bending above thee, the angels draw near,
And sing—"The rainbow! the rainbow!
The smile of God is here."
  • O, beautiful rainbow,
    All woven of light!
    There's not in thy tissue,
    One shadow of night:—
    It seems as heav'n opened,
    When thou dost appear,
    And a visible presence
    Of angels drew near,
       And sung the rainbow,
         The rainbow—
    The smile of God is here.
    • "The Rainbow", st. 1; Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette, vol. 6, no. 7 (July 1833), p. 322. Cf. The Poets' Offering (1850), p. 437:
      O, beautiful rainbow;—all woven of light!—
      There's not in thy tissue, one shadow of night;
      Heaven surely is open when thou dost appear,
      And, bending above thee, the angels draw near,
      And sing—"The rainbow! the rainbow!
      The smile of God is here."
  • Let no one understand me as speaking lightly of that Catechism. It was framed by good men, and doubtless with the best intentions. But there can be no perfect system of faith as expounded by men; and there should be no creed which requires the human mind to render its unqualified assent before it has examined and reflected.
  • Crackers toasted or hard bread may be added a short time before the soup is wanted; but do not put in those libels on civilized cookery, called dumplings! One might about as well eat, with the hope of digesting, a brick from the ruins of Babylon, as one of the hard, heavy masses of boiled dough which usually pass under this name.
  • Nor need we power or splendor,
       Wide halls or lordly dome,
    The good, the true, the tender,
       These form the wealth of home.
    • "The First Swallow", st. 4; Godey's Lady's Book, vol. 26, no. 6 (June 1843), p. 290
  • Hail, Holy Day! the blessing from above
    Brightens thy presence like a smile of love,
    Smoothing, like oil upon a stormy sea,
    The roughest waves of human destiny—
    Cheering the good, and to the poor oppressed
    Bearing the promise of their heavenly rest.
    • "The Sabbath and its Rest", st. 3; Godey's Lady's Book, vol. 31, no. 4 (October 1845), p. 144
  • Rugged strength and radiant beauty—
       These were one in nature's plan;
    Humble toil and heavenward duty—
       These will form the perfect man!
    • "Iron—A Poem", st. 6; Godey's Lady's Book, vol. 34, no. 1 (January 1847), p. 8
  • What matter though the scorn of fools be given,
    If the path followed lead us on to heaven!
    • "The Chase of Power; or, 'Now for It'", st. 4; Godey's Lady's Book, vol. 34, no. 5 (May 1847), p. 225
Oh! wondrous power, how little understood,
Entrusted to the Mother's mind alone
To fashion genius, form the soul for good,
Inspire a West, or train a Washington!
  •    Woman's empire, holier, more refined,
    Moulds, moves and sways the fall'n but God-breathed mind,
    Lifting the earth-crushed heart to hope and heaven.
    • "The Empire of Woman", sec. 1
  • Oh! wondrous power, how little understood,
       Entrusted to the Mother's mind alone
    To fashion genius, form the soul for good,
       Inspire a West, or train a Washington!
  • And evermore the Deep has worshipped God;
    And Bards and Prophets tune their mystic lyres
    While listening to the music of the floods.
    • "The Mississippi", st. 8; The Opal: A Pure Gift for the Holy Days (1848), p. 174. Cf. The Poets' Offering (1850), p. 388:
      And evermore the waters worship God;—
      And bards and prophets tune their mystic lyres
      While listening to the music of the waves!
  • Beauty was lent to nature as the type
    Of heaven's unspeakable and holy joy,
    Where all perfection makes the sum of bliss.
    • "Beauty"; The Poets' Offering (1850), p. 48
  • We have said little of the "Rights of Woman." Her first right is to education, in its Widest sense—to such education as will give her the full development of all her personal, mental, and moral qualities. Having that, there will be no longer any question about her rights; and rights are liable to be perverted to wrongs when we are incapable of rightly exercising them.
    • "Editors' Table"; Godey's Lady's Book, vol. 40, no. 1 (January 1850), pp. 75–76
  • What has made this nation great? Not its heroes, but its households.
    • "Editors' Table"; Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, vol. 79, no. 469 (July 1869), p. 81
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