28+ Bret Harte Quotes On Success, Humorous And Western

Bret Harte was an American author and poet best known for his accounts of pioneering life in California. He was one of the first writers to develop a regional literature in the United States. His works include the short story collection The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Stories and the poem "Plain Language from Truthful James". Following is our collection on famous quotes by Bret Harte on leadership, life, love.

Top 10 Bret Harte Quotes

1. The delicate thought, that cannot find expression, For ruder speech too fair, That, like thy petals, trembles in possession, And scatters on the air.
2. A bird in the hand is a certainty, but a bird in the bush may sing.
3. Don't be too quickTo break bad habits: better stick,Like the Mission folk, to your arsenic.
4. The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.
5. The creator who could put a cancer in a believer's stomach is above being interfered with by prayers.
6. Never a tear bedims the eye that time and patience will not dry.
7. The dominant expression of a child is gravity.
8. But still when the mists of doubt prevail, And we lie becalmed by the shores of age, We hear from the misty troubled shore The voce of children gone before. Drawing the soul to its anchorage.
9. It may be broadly stated that.....of all animals kept for the recreation of mankind the horse is alone capable of exciting a passion that shall be absolutely hopeless.
10. Love differs from all the other contagious diseases: the last time a man is exposed to it, he takes it most readily, and has it the worst!

Bret Harte Short Quotes

• Nobody shoulders a rifle in defense of a boarding house.
• Never a lip is curved with pain That can't be kissed into smiles again.
• There is peace in the swamp, though the quiet is Death
• For the glory born of Goodness Never dies, And its flag is not half-masted In the skies.
• One big vice in a man is apt to keep out a great many smaller ones.
• Each lost day has its patron saint!
• Your voices break and falter in the darkness, Break, falter, and are still.
• Thiar ain't no sense In gittin' riled!
• But, when the goddess' work is done,The woman's still remains.

Bret Harte Famous Quotes And Sayings

Perhaps there is no gift of nature that requires as little exertion on the part of the owner as personal beauty. I am not certain but that it is this very absence of effort which excites our admiration. — Bret Harte

When folks find I ain't afeard to speak my mind on their affairs, they kinder guess I'm tellin' the truth about my own. — Bret Harte

It would seem evident, therefore, that the secret of the American short story was the treatment of characteristic American life, with absolute knowledge of its peculiarities and sympathy with its method. — Bret Harte

Which I wish to remark-- And my language is plain,-- That for ways that are dark And for tricks that are vain, The heathen Chinee is peculiar. — Bret Harte

And then, for an old man like me, it's not exactly right,This kind o' playing soldier with no enemy in sight. — Bret Harte

Howbeit, though no scholar, I am not one of those who misuse the English speech, and, being foolishly led by the hasty custom of scriveners and printers to write the letters "T" and "H" joined together, which resembleth a "Y," do incontinently jump to the conclusion the THE is pronounced "Ye,"--the like of which I never heard in all England. — Bret Harte

Hark! I hear the tramp of thousands, And of armèd men the hum; Lo, a nation's hosts have gathered Round the quick alarming drum Saying, Come, Freemen, Come! Ere your heritage be wasted, Said the quick alarming drum. — Bret Harte

Crude at first [the short story] received a literary polish in the press, but its dominant quality remained. It was concise and condense, yet suggestive. It was delightfully extravagant - or a miracle of understatement — Bret Harte

Besides writing, I have been teaching myself to 'develop' my own photographic plates, and I haven't a stick of clothing or an exposed finger that isn't stained. I sit for hours in a dark-room feeling as if I were a very elderly Faust at some dreadful incantation, and come out of it, blinding at the light, like a Bastille prisoner. And yet I am not successful! — Bret Harte

Life Lessons by Bret Harte

1. Bret Harte's work emphasizes the importance of understanding and appreciating the beauty and complexity of the natural world.
2. His stories often highlight the power of friendship and loyalty, as well as the courage to stand up for what is right.
3. His writing also emphasizes the importance of hard work and perseverance in order to achieve success.