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Sam Walter Foss Quotes

Librarian

Sam Walter Foss was an American librarian born in June 1858 and died in February 1911. He is known for his contributions to the library profession and his promotion of children's literature.

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All Men Made Sides Woods Buckets Dream Hospitality Hunters Let Me Soul

Famous Sam Walter Foss Quotes

“Tis not the greatest singer Who tries the loftiest themes, He is the true joy bringer, Who tells his simplest dreams. He is the greatest poet, Who will renounce all art, And take his heart and show it To every other heart; Who writes no learned riddle, But sings his simplest rune, Takes his heart strings for a fiddle, And plays his easiest tune ~ Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911) [From Back Country Poems, 1892]”

Poetry Poets

Book:Back Country Poems

Source: Back Country Poems

“A hundred thousand men were led By one calf near three centuries dead; They followed still his crooked way And lost a hundred years a day; For thus such reverence is lent To well established precedent.”

Men Way Years Wells Stills Three Lost Century Thousand Hundred Reverence Boston Crooked Precedent Calves

Book:Whiffs from Wild Meadows

Source: Whiffs from Wild Meadows

“One day through the primeval wood A calf walked home as good calves should; But made a trail all bent askew, A crooked trail as all calves do. . . . . And men two centuries and a half Trod in the footsteps of that calf.”

Men Should Made Two Home Half Century One Day Woods Bent Trails Boston Footsteps Crooked Precedent Calves Primeval

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“There are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the place of their self-content; There are souls like stars that dwell apart, In a fellowless firmament; There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths Where highways never ran,-- But let me live by the side of the road, And be a friend to man.”

Men Soul Self Stars Sides Path Let Me Ran Live By Highways Hospitality Pioneers Hermits Firmament

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Let me live in my house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by; They are good, they are bad; they are weak, they are strong, Wise, foolish,--so am I; Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat, Or hurl the cynic's ban? Let me live in my house by the side of the road, And be a friend to man.”

Men Should House Strong Sides Race Wise Weak Let Me Foolish Seats Should I Hospitality Bans Cynic

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“W'en you see a man in woe, Walk right up and say hullo. Say hullo and how d'ye do, How's the world a-usin' you? . W'en you travel through the strange Country t'other side the range, Then the souls you've cheered will know Who you be, an' say hullo.”

Knows Men World Soul Country Humanity Sides Walks Strange Range Woe

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Seek not for fresher founts afar, Just drop your bucket where you are; And while the ship right onward leaps, Uplift it from the exhaustless deeps. Parch not your life with dry despair; The stream of hope flow everywhere-- So under every sky and star, Just drop your bucket where you are.”

Opportunity Stars Sky Despair Flow Ships Uplifting Streams Dry Leap Where You Are Buckets Afar

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“There are purple grapes in the Land of Git-Thare.”

Land Purple Grapes

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“I say the very things that make the greatest StirAn' the most interestin' things, are things that did n't occur.”

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Strew gladness on the paths of men-You will not pass this way again.”

Men Way Path Gladness

Book:Songs of the Average Man

Source: Songs of the Average Man

“The woods were made for the hunter of dreams...”

Made Dream Woods Hunters

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“The woods were made for the hunters of dreams, The brooks for the fishers of song; To the hunters who hunt for the gunless game The streams and the woods belong.”

Made Dream Song Humanity Games Nature Animal Industry Woods Streams Pet Exploitation Hunters Hunts Brooks Wild Animal

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.”

Men House Sides Friendship Let Me Hospitality Firmament

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Just drop your bucket where you are.”

Where You Are Buckets

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“The woods were made for the hunters of dreams, The brooks for the fisher of song; To the hunters who hunt for the gunless game The streams and the woods belong. There are thoughts that moan from the soul of the pine And thoughts in a flower-bell curled; And the thoughts that are blown with the scent of the fern Are as new and as old as the world.”

World Made Soul Dream Song Games Flower Woods Streams Bells Scent Hunters Hunts Brooks Ferns

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Seek not for fresher founts afar, just drop you bucket where you are.”

Keys Where You Are Buckets Afar

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Where shall we get religion? Beneath the open sky, the sphere of crystal silence surcharged with deity.. The midnight earth sends incense up, sweet with the breath of prayer -- Go out beneath the naked night and get religion there.”

Earth Night Prayer Silence Sky Sweet Breaths Naked Spheres Midnight Deities Crystals Incense

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“W'en you see a man in woe, Walk right up and say 'hullo'; Say "hullo" and "how d'ye do. How's the world a-usin' you?”

Men World Walks Woe

Author:Sam Walter Foss

“Bring me men to match my mountains: Bring me men to match my plains: Men with empires in their purpose and new eras in their brains.”

Men Purpose Brain Mountain Eras Empires New Era

Book:Whiffs from Wild Meadows

Source: Whiffs from Wild Meadows

About the Author

Born: June 19, 1858
Died: February 26, 1911
Known for: Librarian
Quotes: 19

Books & Sources

Whiffs from Wild MeadowsRelated source material

Back Country PoemsRelated source material

Songs of the Average ManRelated source material

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