O suffering, sad humanity! O ye afflicted ones, who lie Steeped to the lips in misery, Longing, yet afraid to die, Patient, though sorely tried!
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
How wonderful is the human voice! It is indeed the organ of the soul. The intellect of man is enthroned visibly on his forehead and in his eye, and the heart of man is written on his countenance, but the soul, the soul reveals itself in the voice only.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The human voice is a deep reflection of one's soul, expressing what cannot be seen in the mind or heart.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow beautifully articulates the profound connection between the voice and the essence of a person. While the intellect may be visible through expression and demeanor, it is the voice that truly conveys the depth of the soul, revealing emotions and truths that are otherwise hidden. This quote invites us to appreciate the power of our voices as the ultimate expression of our inner selves.
Themes
VoiceSoulExpressionHumanityCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal expression, one might quote Longfellow to emphasize the importance of using one's voice.
More from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
All quotes →There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
To be seventy years old is like climbing the Alps. You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles and miles away, and before you other summits higher and whiter, which you may have strength to climb, or may not. Then you sit down and meditate and wonder which it will be.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
God is not dead; nor doth He sleep; ... _x000D_ The wrong shall fail,_x000D_ The right prevail,_x000D_ With peace on earth, good will to men.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
In the long run men hit only what they aim at.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
Similar quotes
Looking from the window at the fantastic light and colour of my glittering fairy-world of fact that holds no tenderness, no quietude, I long suddenly for peace, for understanding.
Daphne Du MaurierRead
I was Catholic. You talk about a minority within a minority within a minority: a black Catholic in Savannah, GA.
Clarence ThomasRead
Freedom is just freedom. It is a condition, not an agent of change. It does not develop or uplift those who win it. Freedom holds us accountable no matter the disadvantages we inherit from the past.
Shelby SteeleRead
There are people who cannot forget, as neither do I, the lesson of the years of the Indochina War. Which was, first, that the state is capable of being a murderer. A mass murderer, and a conspirator and a liar.
Christopher HitchensRead
Behind the violence of the birthing of galaxies and stars and planets came a quiet and tender melody, a gentle love song. All the raging of creation, the continuing hydrogen explosions on the countless suns, the heaving of planetary bodies, all was enfolded in a patient, waiting love.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
Someone ought to do it, but why should I? Someone ought to do it, so why not I? Between these two sentences lie whole centuries of moral evolution.
Annie BesantRead