Appreciation

“ But to a true nature such kind of appreciation is humbling; and that, too, in just such a degree as to him or her, praise or blame, appreciation or censure, are equally sacred. One who is satisfied with the recognition of the few can calmly wait till the multitude find out for themselves how much of the seed sown among them will grow. ”

“ But above it shines, with a steady light, your sympathy, your benevolence, your gentleness of heart, and your warm appreciation of the virtues, rude but sincere, of a people whose condition it is necessary to improve, in order to make them contented and happy. ”

“ With what grace, intelligence, and appreciation of values would you move among the other monitors of great fortunes, admired by them, praised, and loved, I think. What a factor for good you could become! ”

“ I congratulate you most sincerely upon the appreciation of your merits which now comes to you so abundantly, although you are out of public life—which, by the way, you ought not to have been as long as your strength held out—and wish you many, many more happy days. ”

“ Do we want gratitude and appreciation? We get it very often, and very often we do not; and when this last is the case, we may reflect that we are in very good company. How did the French reward Joan of Arc? ”

“ For, more careful of fact than the generality of epitaphists, we have ventured to speak out our whole mind on almost every subject, and to call things by their right names, being persuaded that true appreciation is always critical as well as kindly. ”

“ Poetical appreciation is only newly bursting on me. ”

“ Apart also from good that is public and many-voiced, does not each of us know, in private experience, much to be thankful for? Not only the innocent and daily pleasures that we have prized according to our wisdom; of the sun and starry skies, the fields of green, or snow scarcely less beautiful, the loaf eaten with an appetite, the glow of labor, the gentle signs of common affection; but have not some, have not many of us, cause to be thankful for enfranchisement from error or infatuation; a growth in knowledge of outward things, and instruction within the soul from a higher source. ”

“ Ardent affection should mingle with the remembrance of these favours; and our gratitude should prompt us to study, their wishes, and to advance their happiness by becoming diligent, useful, and amiable. ”

“ Sir, I know it as though it were written in a book: your life has been one long calculation—your sympathy or kindness a calculated thing. Good-nature, emotion you may have had, but never the divine thing by which the world is saved. ”

“ When any original act of charity or of gratitude, for instance, is presented either to our sight or imagination, we are deeply impressed with its beauty and feel a strong desire in ourselves of doing charitable and grateful acts also. ”

“ When we vainly imagine gratitude is a mere expression of thanks, we had better examine our hearts and learn what is there, and this will show us what we are, and is the only honest expression of ourselves. ”

“ I needed some one to need my encouragement, my admiration—frequently expressed—my perpetual sympathy hovering about him like a warm cloud of fragrant incense, my gentle criticism, leading him to efforts which would win from the world, and from me, more admiration of and wonder at his energy and genius. ”

“ And when we consider how rare a human trait true gratitude is--the one particular characteristic in which the lower animals put us to shame--it can easily be imagined how I was touched to find that this beautiful and grand Canadian girl remained down to the very last moment of her life the impersonation of that most precious of all virtues. I have seen much of my fellow men and women, and I never knew but two other people who displayed gratitude as a passion--indulged in it, I might say, as a luxury--and they were both poets. ”

“ Often have I come for advice to your wisdom, and sympathy to your heart, bearing back with me, in all such seasons, new increase to that pleasurable gratitude which is, perhaps, the rarest, nor the least happy sentiment, that experience leaves to man. ”

“ The enthusiasm of the people—the ardent darings of a valor whose impetuosity was its greatest difficulty—their high romantic temperament—their devotion—their gratitude—the child-like trustfulness of their natures, were all traits, scattered through the various narratives, which invariably attracted me, and drew me more strongly to their cause—even from affection than reason. ”

“ When you can say to me, 'I am as proud of your work as of my own honor—so proud that I wish it to be known of all men, and that all men should know that I approve,' then you may come to me. Till then, farewell! ”

“ What gain is it to please the world, to please the great, nay, even to please those whom we love, compared with this? What gain is it to be applauded, admired, courted, followed,—compared with this one aim of "not being disobedient to the heavenly vision?" ”

“ If in both thou findest what is worthy of praise and love, of how much praise and love must He be worthy, who has made these things thou praisest and lovest? My soul, till this time thou hast been long occupied and tossed hither and thither by many and various desires, which have ensnared thy heart and divided it among many loves, leaving thee always disturbed and never secure. ”

“ All those to whom I looked up, were of opinion that the pleasure of sympathy with human beings, and the feelings which made the good of others, and especially of mankind on a large scale, the object of existence, were the greatest and surest sources of happiness. ”

“ It gives scope for every human virtue, since each of these is developed from the love and confidence which here predominate. It unites all which ennobles and beautifies life,—sympathy, kindness of will and deed, gratitude, devotion, and every delicate, intimate feeling. ”

“ If they cherish the love of life, it must be through some instinct above all reason; and there they lie, uncomplaining. The little remnant of their strength exhausts itself in a look of thankfulness,—a faint effort to say their gratitude. ”

“ And in truth, it is a divine pleasure to admire! admiration seems in some measure to appropriate to ourselves the qualities it honours in others. We wed,—we root ourselves to the natures we so love to contemplate, and their life grows a part of our own. ”

“ My religious life, my intellectual development, my open door of opportunity for labor, my public reputation—all these, my dear friend, I owe in so great a degree to your own kindness that my gratitude cannot be written in words, but must be expressed only in love. ”

“ But quite apart from all actual greatness and high-calling, there is always what I call Highness, select and sadly isolated forms of life, towards which an attitude of the tenderest sympathy should be adopted. ”

“ Their main end and use is matter of life and necessity, though they may seem to us more considerable for their majesty and beauty. And so it is with gratitude; we love it rather for secondary ends, than for itself. ”

“ This entreaty still rings in my ears, and leads me so to use any influence I may now have over parents.
Is it not true that the strongest delight the human being ever has is in well-doing? Is it not true that this pleasure, like the pleasures of the eye and ear, the pleasures of benevolence, the pleasures of the understanding and the imagination, will seek its own continuance and gratification, if it have fair play? ”

“ I know those who most deserve can least bear praise, and that your goodness is so great, as even to reject the very thanks of the grateful; like the sun in its splendour, which forbids the eye that offers to admire it. ”

“ Therefore, let me ask those who admit the love of praise to be usually the strongest motive in men’s minds in seeking advancement, and the honest desire of doing any kind of duty to be an entirely secondary one, to hold up their hands. ”

“ Has it ever happened to you, reader, to be appreciated on the one point of the good or the great that is in you—on which secretly you value yourself most—but for which nobody, not admitted into your heart of hearts, has given you credit? ”

“ DO not you condemn me for the very thing that you are guilty of yourself;—but before I recriminate—let me be grateful, and acknowledge that heartfelt satisfaction which I ever feel from the praise of the good.—Sterne says—‘every worthy mind loves praise’—and declares that he loves it too—but then it must be sincere. ”

“ I should never forgive myself, if I conveyed to you the accompanying resolution without, at the same time, assuring you of the sincere gratitude I feel in the bottom of my heart to a gentleman who has laboured so assiduously, diligently and successfully in one of the greatest cause that ever interested humanity. ”

“ They hold up for imitation all those cardinal virtues of love and self-sacrifice,—which is the ultimate criterion of character,—of courage, loyalty, kindness, gentleness, fairness, pity, endurance, bravery, industry, perseverance, and thrift. ”

“ Praise, generous, whole-hearted, unstinted praise, now and then, will not hurt any one, but, on the contrary, will act like lubricating oil on dry squeaky machinery, and its reflex action on yourself will be magical. ”

“ Instead, then, of feeling withered up into a concentration of self, the heart, under such circumstances, expands and warms into new life; and while gratitude weeps many a tear of weakness and humility, imagination, busy with the future, paints in glowing colors the rich return it may, perhaps, be possible to make for all the goodness and the benefit received. ”

“ There is an innate satisfaction in human nature that will ever manifest itself when occasion presents the tribute of praise to our actions, and a generous mind feels an equal degree of pleasure in paying that tribute in the coin of truth ”

“ Happy, while I borrowed from your taste, could I have found it not more difficult to imitate your virtues—your spirit of active and extended benevolence, your cheerful piety, your considerate justice, your kindly charity—and all the qualities that brighten a nature more free from the thought of self, than any it has been my lot to meet with. ”

“ Kindness and warm affection, clearness of moral vision, and purity of heart, with a lively relish for quiet intellectual pleasures, for society and books adapted to refine, improve and elevate, were among the characteristics common to them all. ”

“ But whoever yet rejected the blessing for which his soul thirsted?—And in the scale of human felicities, if there is one in which all others is summed up—above all others supremely elevated—it is the consciousness of having awakened the first sentiment of the sweetest, the sublimest of all passions, in the bosom of youth, genius, and sensibility. ”

“ Let me not grow overbearing in prosperity nor arrogant because of my success, but let me enjoy Thy blessings with becoming gratitude and humility. Nor let me ever forget that the most acceptable thank-offering is to bring light and joy to those that sit in darkness and affliction, and give heed to the hungry and comfort the broken-hearted. ”

“ When we look back on the past history of this people, and see the difficulties they have had to encounter and have overcome, our hearts should swell with joy and gratitude to the benign Providence which has brought us to the position that we now enjoy. ”

“ But what signifies exulting on one's gratitude for one benefit;—every hour the dear man heaps new ones upon us, and we can hardly thank him for one, but a second, and a third, and so on to countless degrees, confound one, and throw back our words upon our hearts before they are well formed, and oblige us to sit down under all with profound silence and admiration. ”

“ Is nothing tender awakened by the presence of your benefactor, you who pride yourself upon having never forgotten a a benefit, and who so pompously display the feeling and the excess of your gratitude toward the creatures? ”

“ By trying to adorn it and make it more beautiful and more attractive, we show our respect for it; we pay our tribute of homage and admiration. We show to all the world that we think it estimable, and worthy of attention and honour. ”

“ I praise and glorify Thee because Thou hast deigned to bestow on me health of body, peace of life, with the love, affection, and charity of Thy £uthful servants, and because whatsoever there be in me is the gift of Thy loving kindness. ”

“ Not that Thou mightest win our praise and gratitude, earn our thankfulness and benediction, but solely and eternally because Thou car$st for, Thou art solicitous of, our all-absorbing joy, delight, happiness, rapture and ecstasy. Thou canst not, Thou wilt not, Thou choosest not to, stand by and leave us alone in all our struggles. ”