by William Ellery Channing (1817 - 1901)
My symphony
Language: English
To live content with small means. To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion. To be worthy not respectable, and wealthy not rich. To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars, birds, babes, and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
Text Authorship:
- by William Ellery Channing (1817 - 1901), "My symphony" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Scott Gendel (b. 1977), "My symphony", 2003. [voice and piano or string quartet] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2015-10-30
Line count: 13
Word count: 78