“You never can tell when you do an act
Just what the result will be;
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
Though the harvest you may not see.
Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
In God’s productive soil;
You may not know, yet the tree shall grow
And shelter the brows that toil.
You never can tell what your thoughts will do
In bringing you hate or love;
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
Are swifter than carrier doves.
They follow the law of the universe —
Each thing must create its kind;
And they speed o’er the track to bring you back
Whatever went out from your mind.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox. You Never Can Tell (1895)
Re: the quote, I have a similar one from Ayn Rand. Now, searching for it, I came up dry. Will include it in a future comment.
Carry on
That’s a very sweet poem. It sums up the idea of “unintended consequences,” both the good and the not so good.
Have you ever read the poems of Edgar Guest? He was a columnist for the Detroit Free Press in the first half of the 20th Century. He submitted a poem a day for many years, eventually writing over 11,000 of them. Some of them are a bit sappy, but most celebrate the family, hard work, and patriotism. Two of my favorites are “It Couldn’t Be Done” and “The Mushroom Expert.”