The Secret Journal of Brett Colton By Kay Lynn Mangum

" So whats worse? Seizing the day, knowing theres a chance your attempt could blow up in your face? or not to even try at all and always wondering whether or not something amazing would've happened if you had tried? something that might have changed your life forever- for the better."

This quote would have to be one of my absolute favorite. It just goes to show not to be afraid of failing and just to go through with it, because it could change your life and for the better. This quote really shows me that I can try and go for something and not have to wonder what could have happened.

Quote by Babatunde Olatunji

" Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present."

I picked this as one of my quotes because I really think that people need to stop worrying about the past, and today is like a present. Everyday we need to just live our life to the fulliest and not worry about what is to come, and what is yet to come.

Quote By Thomas Edison

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. "

This quote to me is so important. Service is one of the most important things we can do. by helping others we actually make a difference to ourselves and the people around us. Doing service for others makes us forget all about ourselves and the problems we are going through.

Quote by Thomas Edison

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

I really liked this quote, because its taking failing at something and putting it in a more optimistic way. Going for something is so important even if it doesn't work out the first time, just try try again and you will find a way, somehow.

Quote from Abraham Lincoln

"Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today."

This, I think is a very important quote. I really need to work on this myself, as well as others, because I always put off things that I could get done right away, but I chose to do something totally different. I am going to definately apply this quote to my life and see if maybe i will be less stressed out about some things.

The Red Wheelbarrow By Williams

so much depends
upon
a red wheelbarrow
glazed with rainwater
beside the
white chickens.

I chose this poem because it seems so useless, but I think it has a different aspect to it. It shows how the wheelbarrow is a tool that is used for hard work . Williams is able to make an everyday item seem important.

Spring and All by Williams

But now the stark dignity ofentrance—
Still, the profound changehas come upon them:
rooted theygrip down and
begin to awaken

This poem is very inspiring. After the long winter the little plants witheld the troubles and once spring comes pulls out and begins to sprout. This poem could be related to us. There are going to be times in our lives that will be hard, but we just have to push through, and just know that we can make it, just as a plant.

The Cross of Snow By Longfellow

In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face--the face of one long dead--
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.

This poem to me was very emotional. It was very sad and I could feel the sorrow the author was feeling. It is very sad that such a thing happened and Longfellow really portrayed his grief through this poem and made it very clear what he was feeling.

The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

Two Roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the
difference.

I really like this poem because we all have a choice in which we live our life. This poem talks about a road and that the one he chose had made all the difference, but does that mean in a good way or bad way. Every choice has a consequence and its up to us.

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls By Longfellow

"Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls

I chose this quote from the poem, because I really think it stands for something. It relaxes me and i can picture myself on the soft sand, and leaving footprints. This could be related to life because the decisions and the people we meet, we are leaving a footprint and living on our path.

The American Scholar By Ralph Waldo Emerson

" Books are the best of things, well used; abused, amoung the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end, which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire."

I really like this quote, because it is so true. Books are to inspire, and sometimes people don't see it that way and just breeze through books and don't get out of the books that they read.

Why Literature Matters By Dana Gioia

" I must study politics and war, so that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. They will add to their studies geography, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, he continued, so that their children mahy enjoy the 'right to study painting, poetry, music..."
- John Adams

I chose this quote because it show how American culture was to be shaped. It was so important to study such things to allow all of us to be able to study music and have a wide variety of topics to study.

The Struggle for an Education(Chap. 3) By Booker T. Washington

" I resolved at once to go to that school, although I had no idea where it was, or how many miles away, or how I was going to reach it; I remembered only that I was on fire constantly with one ambition, and that was to go to Hampton. This thought was with me day and night."

This quote is pure inspiration. He had no idea where or how he was to get to this school, but he was so determined to get there no matter what it took. This shows me how blessed I really am to have the chance at an education and that I can strive after my dreams and goals.

3. Reading By Thoreau

" Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage. They have no cause of their own to plead, but while they enlighten and sustain the reader his common sense will not refuse them."

I choose this quote because I agree that books are a treasure and are here to enlighten us. Books date back to way before we can even remember and i think most people dont look at it as a treasure, but a burden to have to read.

William Faulkner's Banquet Speech

" I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail"

This quote to me is very powerful. We must do more than endure through things, but in the end know that we will prevail through the toughest times. Faulkner gave this speech after the Great Depression and they prevailed through this tough time and so will we through our trials.

The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

I picked this quote because it explains how there is a huge struggle with Americans striving for their goals because they may live in the past. People try and try to achieve certain dreams, but will turn back to the past and not want to move forward.

The Call of Cthulhu By H.P. Lovecraft

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."

This quote really made me think. I think it explains that we sometimes live in our own little world not really noticing whats around us and are just worrying only about ourselves. I chose this as one of my quotes because I think that people need to change, and leave our "island" and venture out and explore new ideas.

The Fall of the House of Usher By Edgar Allan Poe

"DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher."

I picked this quote because I thought it portrayed Edgar's writing style very well. It describes the setting in a dark and gloomy way, and right off the start we can tell that this story is not going to be a happy story, but more like a scary one.

The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . . It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” “Nor ever will, my child, I hope,” said Hester. “And why not, mother?” asked Pearl, stopping short. . . . “Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?”

This quote is really important in the Scarlet Letter, because it just shows that Pearl knows that her mom is unhappy, and is curious to why she is wearing the letter and says that one day she too will have one. She isn't really sure of what exactly it means. I picked this quote because it goes to show that kids know what goes on around them.

Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

"We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."

This quote simply wraps up Huckleberry Finn. Huck and Jim turn to the raft to escape the outside world and to get away from society to be anyone they want to be. They both felt safe on the raft and was a place they could turn to when times were difficult. I think we all need a place, like the raft, where we can feel safe and peaceful, and get away when times get chaotic.