There’s nothing so kingly as kindness, and nothing so royal as truth.

At the time of Alice Cary’s birth in 1820, her home state of Ohio was at the western frontier of the United States. Her father was a pious farmer, known to recite poetry and hymns while working his land. Alice began writing poems herself at a young age and had her first piece published when she was just 18 years old. At age 30, she moved to New York, writing every day and gradually earning herself a place among the creative luminaries of the time. This quote is from a poem titled “Nobility,” which gives us a glimpse into the writer’s passion for justice and social equity, themes that ran through her work for the entirety of her career.