Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, some done,
Has earned a night’s repose.

These lines come from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Village Blacksmith,” first published in his collection *Ballads and Other Poems* (1841). The poem portrays a hardworking blacksmith in a New England village—an emblem of honest labor, steadiness, and moral dignity. Longfellow, writing in the early Victorian-era culture of self-improvement and Protestant work ethic, uses the blacksmith’s daily routine as a model of purposeful living. The quoted stanza occurs as the speaker generalizes from the blacksmith’s example to a broader lesson about daily effort and the peace that comes from having tried and accomplished something, however modest, within the span of a day.

The stanza frames a good life not as grand achievement but as faithful, repeated effort: begin a task in the morning, bring it to some close by evening, and let the day contain at least one sincere attempt and one completed act. Longfellow’s emphasis on “something” keeps the standard humane and attainable; progress can be incremental. “Night’s repose” suggests more than physical rest—it implies moral ease, the quiet conscience earned by purposeful work. In the poem’s larger moral portrait, labor becomes a form of character: diligence, perseverance, and responsibility are presented as sources of dignity and inner peace, regardless of social rank.

Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night’s repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;

Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought!

1) “Something attempted, something done, / Has earned a night’s repose.” (often quoted alone)
2) “Each morning sees some task begun; / Each evening sees it close; / Something attempted, something done, / Has earned a night’s repose.”
3) “Each morning sees some task begin; / Each evening sees it close; / Something attempted, something done, / Has earned a night’s repose.” (punctuation varies: semicolons/commas; ‘night’s’ sometimes printed as ‘nights’)