William Croswell Doane

William Croswell Doane (2 March 1832 – 17 May 1913) was the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany in the United States, from 1869 until his death in 1913.

A gentleman is just a gentle-man, — no more, no less; a diamond polished, that was first a diamond in the rough.

Quotes

• Make us mindful of Thy mercies in the past, and faithful to the memories and traditions of truth and justice, of religion and patriotism, in those that have gone before us.
  • From a prayer offered by Bishop Doane on the occasion recorded in the pamphlet, Proceedings of the Legislature of the State of New York in Commemoration of Its Removal from the Old to the New Capitol. February 12, 1879 (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1879), p. 7.

• Enthusiasm is the element of success in everything. It is the light that leads, and the strength that leads men on and up, in the great struggles of scientific pursuit, of professional labor. It robs endurance of difficulty and makes a pleasure of duty.
  • "Address to the Tenth Graduating Class" (1881), in Addresses to the Graduating Classes of St. Agnes School (New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1891), p. 121.

• [L]ife has no smooth road for any of us. And in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim, the very roughness stimulates the climber to sturdier and steadier steps, till that other legend of the rough places fulfils itself at last; per aspera ad astra; over steep ways to the stars.
  • "Address to the Tenth Graduating Class" (1881), in Addresses to the Graduating Classes of St. Agnes School (New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1891), p. 123.
  • Normally quoted omitting the word "other" before "legend" [motto]. The "legend" of the Tenth Class was nec aspera terrent; frightened by no rough things (i.e. difficulties, adversities).

• The success of sainthood is the success attained by struggle and suffering and achieved by faith; a success of honor, of clean hands and pure heart, of service to man and glory to God.
  • Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 109.

Misattributed

• To be a gentleman does not depend upon the tailor or the toilet. Good clothes are not good habits. A gentleman is just a gentle-man, — no more, no less; a diamond polished, that was first a diamond in the rough.
  • Actually by William Croswell Doane's father, George Washington Doane. It is from "The Ends and Objects of Burlington College: An Address", by the Right Rev. George Washington Doane, D.D., LL.D. (Burlington: Edmund Morris, 1848), p. 9. In its original form it reads:
    • To be a gentleman, does not depend upon the tailor, or the toilet.[…] Good clothes are not good habits.[…] A gentleman is just a gentle-man; no more, no less: a diamond polished, that was first a diamond in the rough.

• Soon, for me, the light of day
  Shall for ever, pass away;
  Then, from sin and sorrow, free,
  Take me, Lord, to dwell with Thee.
  • Also by William Croswell Doane's father, George Washington Doane. It is from the poem "Evening" in Songs by the Way: The Poetical Writings of the Right Rev. George Washington Doane, DD., LL.D., arranged and edited by his son William Croswell Doane (Albany: Joel Munsell, 1875), p. 4.

External links

• William C. Doane Page on Project Canterbury.