Better to smell the violet cool than sip the glowing wine;
Better to hark a hidden brook than watch a diamond shine.
Better the love of gentle heart than beauty's favors proud,
Better the rose's living seed than roses in a crowd.
Better to love in loneliness than bask in love all day;
Better the fountain in the heart than the fountain by the way.
Better be fed by a mother's hand than eat alone at will;
Better to trust in God than say, My goods my storehouse fill.
Better to be a little wise than in knowledge to abound;
Better to teach a child than toil to fill perfection's round.
Better sit at a master's feet than thrill a listening state;
Better suspect that thou art proud than be sure that thou art great.
Better to walk in the realm unseen than watch the hour's event;
Better the _well done_ at the last than the air with shoutings rent.
Better to have a quiet grief than a hurrying delight;
Better the twilight of the dawn than the noonday burning bright.
Better to sit at the water's birth than a sea of waves to win;
To live in the love that floweth forth than the love that cometh in.
Better a death when work is done than earth's most favored birth;
Better a child in God's great house than the king of all the earth.
--George Macdonald.
Time is indeed a precious boon,
But with the boon a task is given:
The heart must learn its duty well
To man on earth and God in heaven.
--Eliza Cook.