“At present the shepherd should not be in the van, unless his eye for grass be very keen; he will be in danger of being left in somewhat ignominious isolation. He must guide indeed, but he must guide from behind.”

Advising a subtle and responsive approach to literary criticism and guidance · Essay, The Pen, 1881

• Criticism
• Guidance
• Humility

“I work so slowly, and there is the perpetual weekly necessity to write something fresh.”

A candid confession of the pressures and pace of literary work · Letter to Miss Henderson, c.1910

• Discipline
• Work
• Writing

“To most of the great poets no greater praise can be given than praise of their imagery.”

Highlighting the central importance of vivid imagery in poetry · Essay, The Rhythm of Life

• Imagery
• Poetry
• Praise

“If life is not always poetical, it is at least metrical. Periodicity rules over the mental experience of man.”

Finding a fundamental rhythm and pattern in human existence · Essay, The Rhythm of Life

• Experience
• Life
• Rhythm

“Children have a fastidiousness that time is slow to cure.”

Observing the refined sensibilities of childhood that often fade with age · Essay or conversation (commonly attributed)

• Childhood
• Sensitivity
• Time

“Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends upon the tides of the spirit.”

Suggesting that inner disposition matters more than external circumstances · Essay, The Rhythm of Life

• Emotion
• Happiness
• Spirit

“Our fathers valued change for the sake of its results; we value it in the act.”

Contrasting a modern appreciation for process with an older focus on outcome · Essay or conversation (commonly attributed)

• Change
• Modernity
• Tradition

“Spirit of place! It is for this we travel, to surprise its subtlety; and where it is a strong and dominant angel, that place, seen once, abides entire in the memory with all its own accidents, its habits, its breath, its name.”

Expressing the enduring impression that a distinctive location can leave · Essay, The Spirit of Place

• Memory
• Place
• Travel

“There is nothing in the world more peaceful than apple-leaves with an early moon.”

Capturing a moment of serene natural beauty · Essay or conversation (commonly attributed)

• Beauty
• Nature
• Peace

“The true color of life is the color of the body, the color of the covered red, the implicit and not explicit red of the living heart and the pulses. It is the modest color of the unpublished blood.”

Reflecting on the quiet, inner vitality that underlies outward appearance · Essay, The Colour of Life

• Body
• Life
• Truth

“The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.”

Finding spiritual significance in the quiet routines of domestic life · Essay

• Childhood
• Faith

“The principal part of faith is patience.”

Presenting patience as the active discipline at the heart of belief · Essay

• Faith
• Hope