Graded Memory Selections

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADES

To thine own self be true,And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.—Shakespeare.Be noble! and the nobleness that liesIn other men, sleeping but never dead,Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.—Lowell.

What must of necessity be done, you can always find out how to do.

—Ruskin.He fails not who makes truth his cause,Nor bends to win the crowd’s applause,He fails not—he who stakes his allUpon the right and dares to fall.—Richard Watson Gilder.Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!Let the dead Past bury its dead!Act,—act in the living Present!Heart within and God o’erhead!—Longfellow.Tell me not in mournful numbers,Life is but an empty dream!For the soul is dead that slumbers,And things are not what they seem.—Longfellow.

Be just and fear not; let all the ends thou aimest at, be thy country’s, thy God’s, and truth’s.

—Shakespeare.For of all sad words of tongue or pen—The saddest are these: “It might have been!”—Whittier.Truth crushed to earth shall rise again;The eternal years of God are hers;But error, wounded, writhes with pain,And dies among his worshippers.—Bryant.Flower in the crannied wall,I pluck you out of the crannies;—Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,Little flower,—but if I could understandWhat you are, root and all—and all in all,I should know what God and man is.—Tennyson.

Life is the beat possible thing we can make of it.

—Curtis.Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,And asks no omen but his country’s cause.—Pope.There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,Rough-hew them how we will.—Shakespeare.To be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing, end them?—Shakespeare.

Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.

—Webster.

Our grand business is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

—Thomas Carlyle.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.

—Lincoln.Full many a gem of purest ray sereneThe dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,And waste its sweetness on the desert air.—Gray.

POOR RICHARD’S SAYINGS

God helps them that help themselves.

The sleeping fox catches no poultry.

What we call time enough always proves little enough.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy.

Drive thy business, let not that drive thee.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Industry needs not wish.

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

He that hath a trade hath an estate, and he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor.

Have you somewhat to do to-morrow, do it to-day.

God gives all things to industry: then plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you will have corn to sell and to keep.

Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.

If you would have your business done, go; if not, send.

He that by the plough would thrive,Himself must either hold or drive.

Silks and satins, scarlet and velvets put out the kitchen fire.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.

Many a little makes a mickle.

Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them.

Wise men learn by others’ harms, fools scarcely by their own.

When the well is dry they know the worth of water.

Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy.

A little neglect may breed great mischief.

Vessels large may venture more,But little boats should keep near shore.What is a butterfly? at bestHe’s but a caterpillar drest;The gaudy fop’s his picture just.

For age and want save while you may.

No morning sun lasts a whole day.

Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt.

Get what you can, and what you get, hold, ’Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold.

Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for it is true we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.

The key, often used, is always bright.

But dost thou love life? then do not waste time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.

Lost time is never found again.

There are no gains without pains.

At the workingman’s house hunger looks in, but dares not enter.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

The cat in gloves catches no mice.

By industry and patience the mouse ate into the cable.

Since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.

A workingman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees.

It is folly for the frog to swell in order to equal the ox.

It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Troubles spring from idleness, and grievous toils from needless ease.

If you would be wealthy think of saving as well as of getting.

1

From “Along the Way,” copyright 1879 by Mary Mapes Dodge, and published by Chas. Scribner’s Sons.

2

From “Love Songs of Childhood.” Copyright, 1894, by Eugene Field. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, Chas. Scribner’s Sons.

3

From “The Complete Poetical Writings of J. G. Holland,” copyright 1879-1881 by Charles Scribner’s Sons.

4

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

5

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

6

All rights reserved.

7

From “Love Songs of Childhood.” Copyright, 1894, by Eugene Field. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, Chas. Scribner’s Sons.

8

From “Love Songs of Childhood.” Copyright, 1894, by Eugene Field. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, Chas. Scribner’s & Sons.

9

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

10

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

11

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

12

From “Afterwhiles,” copyrighted 1887, by Bowen-Merrill Co. Must not be reprinted without permission from the publishers.

13

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

14

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

15

By permission from Edwin Markham’s “Joy of the Hills and Other Poems,” copyright by Doubleday & McClure, New York.

16

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

17

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

18

In a recent critical article, in the London Athenæum is the sentence: “In point of power, workmanship and feeling, among all the poems written by Americans, we are inclined to give first place to the ‘Port of Ships’ (or ‘Columbus’) by Joaquin Miller.”

19

bards, ancient poets.

20

benediction, blessing.

21

Boston.

22

Charlestown.

23

grenadiers, British soldiers.

24

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

25

Copyrighted by Doubleday & McClure. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

26

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

27

From “Afterwhiles,” copyrighted 1887, by Bowen-Merrill Co. Must not be reprinted without permission from the publishers.

28

mimic, copies (toys).

29

encumbered, burdened.

30

Aquarius, water-bearer.

31

seer, prophet, wise man.

32

From “The Complete Poetical Writings Of J. G. Holland,” copyright 1879-1881 by Charles Scribner’s Sons.

33

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

34

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

35

Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.