No man receives the full culture of a man in whom the sensibility to the beautiful is not cherished; and there is no condition of life from which it should be excluded. Of all luxuries this is the cheapest, and the most at hand, and most important to those conditions where coarse labor tends to give grossness to the mind. |
No one should part with their individuality and become that of another. |
No power in society, no hardship in your condition can depress you, keep you down, in knowledge, power, virtue, influence, but by your own consent. |
Nothing which has entered into our experience is ever lost. |
Of all treasons against humanity, there is no one worse than his who employs great intellectual force to keep down the intellect of his less favored brothers |
One good anecdote is worth a volume of biography. |
One of the tremendous evils of the world, is the monstrous accumulation of power in a few hands. |
Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual |
Our leading principle in interpreting Scripture is this, that the Bible is a book written for men, in the language of men, and that its meaning is to be sought in the same manner as that of other books. We believe that God, when he speaks to the human race, conforms, if we may so say, to the established rules of speaking and writing. How else would the Scriptures avail us more, than if communicated in an unknown tongue? |
Perhaps in our presence, the most heroic deed on earth is done in some silent spirit, the loftiest purpose cherished, the most generous sacrifice made, and we do not suspect it. I believe this greatness to be most common among the multitude, whose names are never heard. |
Practice makes perfect, So be careful what you practice. |
Science and art may invent splendid modes of illuminating the apartments of the opulent: but these are all poor and worthless compared with the common light which the sun sends into all our windows, which pours freely, impartially over hill and valley, which kindles daily the eastern and western sky; and so the common lights of reason, and conscience, and love, are of more worth and dignity than the rare endowments which give celebrity to a few. |
Secret study, silent thought is, after all, the mightiest agent in human affairs. What a man does outwardly is but the expression and completion of his inward thought. |
The best books for a man are not always those which the wise recommend, but often those which meet the peculiar wants, the natural thirst of his mind, and therefore awaken interest and rivet thought |
The chief evil of war is more evil. War is the concentration of all human crimes. Here is its distinguishing, accursed brand. Under its standard gather violence, malignity, rage, fraud, perfidy, rapacity, and lust. If it only slew man, it would do little. It turns man into a beast of prey. |