Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Help
To the man who himself strives earnestly, God also lends a helping hand.
Æschylus—Persæ. 742.
The foolish oft times teach the wise:
I strain too much this string of life, belike,
Meaning to make such music as shall save.
Mine eyes are dim now that they see the truth,
My strength is waned now that my need is most;
Would that I had such help as man must have,
For I shall die, whose life was all men’s hope.
Edwin Arnold—Light of Asia. Bk. VI. L. 109.
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.
Burke—Reflections on the Revolution in France.
The careful pilot of my proper woe.
Byron—Epistle to Augusta. No. 3. St. 3.
Ayude Dios con lo suyo á cada uno.
God helps everyone with what is his own.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. Pt. II. 26.
Heaven’s help is better than early rising.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. Vol. III. Pt. II. Ch. XXXIV.
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Into his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Emily Dickinson—Life.
Homo qui erranti comiter monstrat viam,
Quasi lumen de suo lumine accendit, facit:
Nihilominus ipsi luceat, cum illi accenderit.
He who civilly shows the way to one who has missed it, is as one who has lighted another’s lamp from his own lamp; it none the less gives light to himself when it burns for the other.
Ennius. Quoted by Cicero. De Officiis. 1. 16.
God helps him who strives hard.
Euripides—Eumenidæ.
Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale,
And guide my lonely way
To where yon taper cheers the vale
With hospitable ray.
Goldsmith—Vicar of Wakefield. The Hermit. Ch. VIII.
Light is the task when many share the toil.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. XII. L. 493. Bryant’s trans.
Nabis sine cortice.
You will swim without cork (without help).
Horace—Satires. Bk. I. 4. 120.
Make two grins grow where there was only a grouch before.
Elbert Hubbard—Pig-Pen Pete. Why I Ride Horseback.
Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help?
Samuel Johnson—Boswell’s Life of Johnson. (1754).
I want to help you to grow as beautiful as God meant you to be when he thought of you first.
George MacDonald—The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. XXII.
Aid the dawning, tongue and pen:
Aid it, hopes of honest men!
Charles Mackay—Clear the Way.
Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land?
All fear, none aid you, and few understand.
Pope—Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 264.
In man’s most dark extremity
Oft succor dawns from Heaven.
Scott—Lord of the Isles. Canto I. St. 20.
Now, ye familiar spirits, that are cull’d
Out of the powerful regions under earth,
Help me this once.
Henry VI. Pt. I. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 10.
Help me, Cassius, or I sink!
Julius Cæsar. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 111.
And he that stands upon a slippery place
Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.
King John. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 138.
God helps those who help themselves.
Algernon Sidney—Discourse Concerning Government. Ch. II. Pt. XXIII.