“Do the thing that is next,” saith the proverb.  And a nobler shall succeed; Tis the motive exalts the action; Tis the doing and not the deed. -Margaret J. Preston

Wisdom is oftentimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar. -William Wordsworth

Honor and shame from no condition rise; Act well they part; there all the honor lies. -Alexander Pope.

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight; But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. Henry W. Longfellow

Habits are assumed; but when we strive to throw them off, ’tis being flayed alive. -William Cooper

Bad habits gather by unseen degrees; As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. -John Dryden

One by one thy duties wait thee; Let thy whole strength go to each.  Let no future dreams elate thee; Learn thou first what these can teach.   -A. A. Procter from One By One the Sands Are Flowing

Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime; and departing , leave behind us footprints on the sand of time. -Henry W. Longfellow

Teach me to feel another’s woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.   -Alexander Pope

Howe’er it be, it seems to me,   ’Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets,         55   And simple faith than Norman blood. -Alfred Tennnyson from Lady Clara Vere de Vere