Live Today for Eternity - 1885
Charles Kingsley, prolific Victorian-era author.
Introduction
Charles Kingsley was a priest in the Church of England, a naturalist (we might say “biologist” today), a socialist, a controversialist, a friend of prominent men (including Charles Darwin), and a prolific author. After his death, his wife selected inspirational passages from his writings and arranged them in a book called Daily Thoughts. She dedicated it to “our children, and to all who feel the blessing of his influence on their daily life and thought.” The selection for January 4 was titled “The Noble Life” and reproduced the second stanza of his poem “A Farewell” with the addition of his manuscript comment, “Live in the present that you may be ready for the future.”
Quote
“Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them all day long;
And so make life, and death, and that For Ever
One grand sweet song.”
Daily Thoughts, selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife, 2nd edition. London: Macmillan and Co., 1885.