If you sit down at set of sun <br />And count the acts that you have done, <br />And, counting, find <br />One self-denying deed, one word <br />That eased the heart of him who heard, <br />One glance most kind <br />That fell like sunshine where it went -- <br />Then you may count that day well spent. <br /> <br />But if, through all the livelong day, <br />You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay -- <br />If, through it all <br />You've nothing done that you can trace <br />That brought the sunshine to one face-- <br />No act most small <br />That helped some soul and nothing cost -- <br />Then count that day as worse than lost.<br /><br />George Eliot<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/count-that-day-lost/
