“If, in an hour of noble elation, I could write a bit of glorified prose…” — Max Ehrmann

“If, in an hour of noble elation, I could write a bit of glorified prose that would soften the stern ways of life, and bring to our fevered days some courage, dignity and poise—I should be well-content.”

States his modest hope for what writing might do for ordinary lives · Journal, 1922

Max Ehrmann

About Max Ehrmann

26 September 1872–9 September 1945

Max Ehrmann was born on 26 September 1872 in Terre Haute, Indiana, and died there on 9 September 1945, seventeen days before his seventy-third birthday. He is remembered almost everywhere as the author of “Desiderata,” the compact prose poem beginning, “Go placidly amid the noise and haste,” but that single work…

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