Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty.
John Ruskin
1840s

We rise by lifting others.
Robert Ingersoll
1833- 1899

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.  

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
1926

Even a thatched hut
In this changing world may turn
Into a doll’s house

Bashō
1644 – 1694

But, amid the fumbling march of races to extinction, the giant rhythms of the earth remained. The seasons passed in their majestic processionals, and germinal Spring returned forever on the land– new crops, new men, new harvests and new gods.

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
1929

T.H. White on learning as a cure for sadness:

The best thing for being sad… is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.

The Once and Future King by T.H. White
1958