American poet and novelist (1836-1907)
Great orators who are not also great writers become very indistinct historical shadows to the generation immediately following them. The spell vanishes with the voice.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
Ponkapog Papers
Black Tragedy lets slip her grim disguise and shows you laughing lips and roguish eyes; but when, unmasked, gay Comedy appears, how wan her cheeks are, and what heavy tears!
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
"Masks"
To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent -- that is to triumph over old age.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
Ponkapog Papers
We knew it would rain, for the poplars showed
The white of their leaves, the amber grain
Shrunk in the wind -- and the lightning now
Is tangled in tremulous skeins of rain.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
Before the Rain
Everyone has a bookplate these days, and the collectors are after it. The fool and his bookplate are soon parted. To distribute one's ex libris is inanely to destroy the only significance it has, that of indicating the past or present ownership of the volume in which it is placed.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
Ponkapog Papers
Imagine all human beings swept off the face of the earth, excepting one man. Imagine this man in some vast city, New York or London. Imagine him on the third or fourth day of his solitude sitting in a house and hearing a ring at the door-bell!
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
Ponkapog Papers