Background Image

...

Every Boy Wants Someone Older Than Himself To Whom He May Go In Moods Of Confidence And Yearning. The Neglect Of This Child's Want By Grown People . . . Is A Fertile Source Of Suffering.

-Henry Ward Beecher

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Every Boy Wants Someone

Henry Ward Beecher

...

Every Boy Wants Someone Older Than Himself To Whom He May Go In Moods Of Confidence And Yearning. The Neglect Of This Child's Want By Grown People . . . Is A Fertile Source Of Suffering.

Views: 60325

Topic

More From Henry Ward Beecher

There Is Nothing Which Vanity Does Not Desecrate.

There Is Not A Person We Employ Who Does Not, Like Ourselves, Desire Recognition, Praise, Gentleness, Forbearance, Patience.

There Are Persons So Radiant, So Genial, So Kind, So Pleasure-bearin G, That You Instinctively Feel In Their Presence That They Do You Good; Whose Coming Into A Room Is Like Bringing A Lamp There.

A Conservative Young Man Has Wound Up His Life Before It Was Unreeled. We Expect Old Men To Be Conservative But When A Nation's Young Men Are So, Its Funeral Bell Is Already Rung.

Our Best Successes Often Come After Our Greatest Disappointments.

It Is The Color Which Love Wears, And Cheerfulness, And Joy--these Three. It Is The Light In The Window Of The Face By Which The Heart Signifies To Father, Husband, Or Friend That It Is At Home And Waiting.

That Was A Judicious Mother Who Said, "i Obey My Children For The First Year Of Their Lives, But Ever After I Expect Them To Obey Me.

Love Is The Wine Of Existence. When You Have Taken That, You Have Taken The Most Precious Drop That There Is In The Cluster.

Oh, Ye Infidel Philosophers, Teach Me How To Find Joy In Sorrow, Strength In Weakness, And Light In Darkest Days; How To Bear Buffeting And Scorn; How To Welcome Death, And To Pass Through It Into The Sphere Of Life, And This Not For Me Only, But For The Whole World That Groans And Travails In Pain; And Till You Can Do This, Speak Not To Me Of A Better Revelation Than The Bible.

Temptations Are Enemies Outside The Castle Seeking Entrance. If There Be No False Retainer Within Who Holds Treacherous Parley, There Can Scarcely Be Even An Offer.

Every Man Should Keep A Fair-sized Cemetery In Which To Bury The Faults Of His Friends.

No Emotion, Any More Than A Wave, Can Long Retain Its Own Individual Form.

A Woman's Pity Often Opens The Door To Love.

Miracles Are Like Candles Lit Up Until The Sun Rises, And Then Blown Out. Therefore, I Am Amused When I Hear Sects And Churches Talk About Having Evidence Of Divine Authority Because They Have Miracles. Miracles In Our Time Are Like Candles In The Street At Midday. We Do Not Want Miracles. They Are To Teach Men How To Find Out Truths Themselves; And After They Have Learned This, They No More Need Them Than A Well Man Needs A Staff, Or A Grown-up Child Needs A Walking-stool.

The Prouder A Man Is, The More He Thinks He Deserves, And The More He Thinks He Deserves, The Less He Really Does Deserve.

As For Marigolds, Poppies, Hollyhocks, And Valorous Sunflowers, We Shall Never Have A Garden Without Them, Both For Their Own Sake, And For The Sake Of Old-fashioned Folks, Who Used To Love Them.

The Bible Stands Alone In Human Literature In Its Elevated Conception Of Manhood, In Character And Conduct.

We Are Apt To Believe In Providence So Long As We Have Our Own Way; But If Things Go Awry, Then We Think, If There Is A God, He Is In Heaven, And Not On Earth.

If There Is A God

All The Wide World Is But The Husbandry Of God For The Development Of The One Fruit-man.

The Glory Of Christianity Is To Conquer By Forgiveness. It Is Easier To Forgive An Enemy Than To Forgive A Friend.

If One Should Give Me A Dish Of Sand, And Tell Me There Were Particles Of Iron In It, I Might Look For Them With My Eyes, And Search For Them With My Clumsy Fingers, And Be Unable To Detect Them; But Let Me Take A Magnet And Sweep Through It, And How Would It Draw To Itself The Almost Invisible Particles By The Mere Power Of Attraction. The Unthankful Heart, Like My Finger In The Sand, Discovers No Mercies; But Let The Thankful Heart Sweep Through The Day, And As The Magnet Finds The Iron, So It Will Find, In Every Hour, Some Heavenly Blessings.

Sink The Bible To The Bottom Of The Ocean, And Man's Obligations To God Would Be Unchanged. He Would Have The Same Path To Tread, Only His Lamp And His Guide Would Be Gone; He Would Have The Same Voyage To Make, But His Chart And Compass Would Be Overboard!

God Washes The Eyes By Tears Until They Can Behold The Invisible Land Where Tears Shall Come No More. O Love! O Affliction! Ye Are The Guides That Show Us The Way Through The Great Airy Space Where Our Loved Ones Walked; And, As Hounds Easily Follow The Scent Before The Dew Be Risen, So God Teaches Us, While Yet Our Sorrow Is Wet, To Follow On And Find Our Dear Ones In Heaven.

Religion, In One Sense, Is A Life Of Self-denial, Just As Husbandry, In One Sense, Is A Work Of Death.

The First Hour Of The Morning Is The Rudder Of The Day.

Memory Can Glean, But Can Never Renew. It Brings Us Joys Faint As Is The Perfume Of The Flowers, Faded And Dried, Of The Summer That Is Gone.

Character, Like Porcelain-ware, Must Be Painted Before It Is Glazed. There Can Be No Change Of Color After It Is Burned In.

To Be A Christian Is To Obey Christ No Matter How You Feel.

There Are Sorrows That Are Not Painful, But Are Of The Nature Of Some Acids, And Give Piquancy And Flavor To Life.

A Man's Character Is The Reality Of Himself; His Reputation, The Opinion Others Have Formed About Him; Character Resides In Him, Reputation In Other People; That Is The Substance, This Is The Shadow.

All Words Are Pegs To Hang Ideas On.

May We Feel After Thee; Still Calling Out In The Darkness, As Children Waking In The Night Call "father," So May We Call Out For God; And, At Times, Even If We Do Not Hear Thy Voice, May There Be The Form Of A Hand Resting Upon Us, And That Shall Be Enough; For We Shall Take Hold Of It, Though It Be In The Dark, And It Shall Guide Us To The Growing Light; For The Day Shall Come, And The Release And Triumph.

There Are Many Persons Who Look On Sunday As A Sponge To Wipe Out The Sins Of The Week

I Never Know How To Worship Until I Know How To Love.

Newspapers Are To The Body Politic What Arteries Are To The Human Body, Their Function Being To Carry Blood And Sustenance And Repair To Every Part Of The Body.

There Can Be No Barrenness In Full Summer. The Very Sand Will Yield Something. Rocks Will Have Mosses, And Every Rift Will Have Its Wind-flower, And Every Crevice A Leaf; While From The Fertile Soil Will Be Reared A Gorgeous Troop Of Growths, That Will Carry Their Life In Ten Thousand Forms, But All With Praise To God. And So It Is When The Soul Knows Its Summer. Love Redeems Its Weakness, Clothes Its Barrenness, Enriches Its Poverty, And Makes Its Very Desert To Bud And Blossom As The Rose.

When Our Cup Runs Over, We Let Others Drink The Drops That Fall, But Not A Drop From Within The Rim, And Call It Charity; When The Crumbs Are Swept From Our Table, We Think It Generous To Let The Dogs Eat Them; As If That Were Charity Which Permits Others To Have What We Cannot Keep.

O Never Harm The Dreaming World, The World Of Green, The World Of Leaves, But Let Its Million Palms Unfold The Adoration Of The Trees Of All Man's Works Of Art, A Cathedral Is Greatest. A Vast And Majestic Tree Is Greater Than That.

No Man Is Such A Conqueror, As The One That Has Defeated Himself.

Young Love Is A Flame; Very Pretty, Often Very Hot And Fierce, But Still Only Light And Flickering. The Love Of The Older And Disciplined Heart Is As Coals, Deep-burning, Unquenchable.

Human Life Is God's Outer Church. Its Needs And Urgencies Are Priests And Pastors.

A Lie Always Needs A Truth For A Handle To It.

Going Out Into Life--that Is Dying. Christ Is The Door Out Of Life.

Suffering Well Borne Is Better Than Suffering Removed.

The Religion Of Jesus Christ Is Not Ascetic, Nor Sour, Nor Gloomy, Nor Circumscribing. It Is Full Of Sweetness In The Present And In Promise.

When Men Enter Into The State Of Marriage, They Stand Nearest To God.

There Are Many Troubles Which You Cannot Cure By The Bible And The Hymn-book, But Which You Can Cure By A Good Perspiration And A Breath Of Fresh Air.

Walking Humbly, You Are More Of A Man Than You Were When You Walked Proudly.

A Man Without A Vote Is In This Land Like A Man Without A Hand.

A Law Is Valuable Not Because It Is Law, But Because There Is Right In It.

Flattery Is Praise Insincerely Given For An Interested Purpose.

The Best Lessons A Man Ever Learns Are From His Mistakes. It Is Not For Want Of Schoolmasters That We Are Still Ignorant.

To The Covetous Man Life Is A Nightmare, And God Lets Him Wrestle With It As Best He May.

No Grace Can Save Any Man Unless He Helps Himself.

We Are Never Ripe Till We Have Been Made So By Suffering.

The Slave Labors, But With No Cheer - It Is Not The Road To Respectability, It Will Honor Him With No Citizens' Trust, It Brings No Bread To His Family, No Grain To His Garner, No Leisure In After-days, No Books Or Papers To His Children. It Opens No School-house Door, Builds No Church, Rears For Him No Factory, Lays No Keel, Fills No Bank, Earns No Acres. With Sweat And Toil And Ignorance He Consumes His Life, To Pour The Earnings Into Channels From Which He Does No Drink, Into Hands That Never Honor Him. But Perpetually Rob And Often Torment.

Education Will Not Come Of Itself; It Will Never Come Unless You Seek It; It Will Not Come Unless You Take The First Steps Which Lead To It; But, Taking These Steps, Every Man Can Acquire It.

Your Greatest Pleasure Is That Which Rebounds From Hearts That You Have Made Glad.

We Know That The Gifts Which Men Have Do Not Come From The Schools. If A Man Is A Plain, Literal, Factual Man, You Can Make A Great Deal More Of Him In His Own Line By Education Than Without Education, Just As You Can Make A Great Deal More Of A Potato If You Cultivate It Than If You Do Not; But No Cultivation In This World Will Ever Make An Apple Out Of A Potato.

A Mother Has, Perhaps, The Hardest Earthly Lot; And Yet No Mother Worthy Of The Name Ever Gave Herself Thoroughly For Her Child Who Did Not Feel That, After All, She Reaped What She Had Sown.

As Long As Society Is Absolutely Divided As Milk Is, The Cream Being At The Top And The Impoverished Milk At The Bottom, So Long Will Society Be Unbalanced, And Liable To Be Thrown Into Convulsions Out Of Which Will Spring Wars. A Circulation Throughout Keeps It In Health.

The Test Of Christian Character Should Be That A Man Is A Joy-bearing Agent To The World.

Religion Is Only Another Word For The Right Use Of A Man's Whole Self, Instead Of A Wrong Use Of Himself.

The Unthankful Heart... Discovers No Mercies; But Let The Thankful Heart Sweep Through The Day And, As The Magnet Finds The Iron, So It Will Find, In Every Hour, Some Heavenly Blessings!

All Things In The Natural World Symbolize God, Yet None Of Them Speak Of Him But In Broken And Imperfect Words. High Above All He Sits, Sublimer Than Mountains, Grander Than Storms, Sweeter Than Blossoms And Tender Fruits, Nobler Than Lords, Truer Than Parents, More Loving Than Lovers. His Feet Tread The Lowest Places Of The Earth; But His Head Is Above All Glory, And Everywhere He Is Supreme.

And When No Longer We Can See Thee, May We Reach Out Our Hands, And Find Thee Leading Us Through Death To Immortality And Glory.

He That Would Look With Contempt On The Pursuits Of The Farmer, Is Not Worthy The Name Of A Man.

The Natural Term Of An Apple-pie Is But Twelve Hours. It Reaches Its Highest State About One Hour After It Comes From The Oven, And Just Before Its Natural Heat Has Quite Departed. But Every Hour Afterward Is A Declension. And After It Is One Day Old, It Is Thence-forward But The Ghastly Corpse Of Apple-pie.

Morality Is Good, And Is Accepted Of God, As Far As It Goes; But The Difficulty Is, It Does Not Go Far Enough.

No Matter What Looms Ahead, If You Can Eat Today, Enjoy Today, Mix Good Cheer With Friends Today Enjoy It And Bless God For It.

It Is A Higher Exhibition Of Christian Manliness To Be Able To Bear Trouble Than To Get Rid Of It.

Take From The Bible The Godship Of Christ, And It Would Be But A Heap Of Dust.

We Are Not To Make The Ideas Of Contentment And Aspiration Quarrel, For God Made Them Fast Friends. A Man May Aspire, And Yet Be Quite Content Until It Is Time To Raise; And Both Flying And Resting Are But Parts Of One Contentment. The Very Fruit Of The Gospel Is Aspiration. It Is To The Heart What Spring Is To The Earth, Making Every Root, And Bud, And Bough Desire To Be More.

There Are Some Men's Souls That Are So Thin, So Almost Destitute Of What Is The True Idea Of Soul, That Were Not The Guardian Angels So Keen-sighted, They Would Altogether Overlook Them.

To The Great Tree-loving Fraternity We Belong. We Love Trees With Universal And Unfeigned Love, And All Things That Do Grow Under Them Or Around Them - The Whole Leaf And Root Tribe. Not Alone When They Are In Their Glory, But In Whatever State They Are - In Leaf, Or Rimed With Frost, Or Powdered With Snow, Or Crystal-sheathed In Ice, Or In Severe Outline Stripped And Bare Against A November Sky - We Love Them.

One Might As Well Attempt To Calculate Mathematically The Contingent Forms Of The Tinkling Bits Of Glass In A Kaleidoscope As To Look Through The Tube Of The Future And Foretell Its Pattern.

Victories Are Easy And Cheap. The Only Victories Worth Anything Are Those Achieved Through Hard Work And Dedication.

Ordinarily Rivers Run Small At The Beginning, Grow Broader And Broader As They Proceed, And Become Widest And Deepest At The Point, Where They Enter The Sea. It Is Such Rivers That The Christian's Life Is Like. But The Life Of The Mere Worldly Man Is Like Those Rivers In Southern Africa, Which, Proceeding From Mountain Freshets, Are Broad And Deep At The Beginning, And Grow Narrower And More Shallow As They Advance. They Waster Themselves By Soaking Into The Sands, And At Last They Die Out Entirely. The Farther They Run The Less There Is Of Them.

That Endless Book, The Newspaper, Is Our National Glory.

Some People Are Proud Of Their Humility.

A Person Can No More Make Money Suddenly And Largely, And Be Unharmed By It, Than One Could Suddenly Grow From A Child's Stature To An Adult's Without Harm.

A Man's True State Of Power And Riches Is To Be In Himself.

Brethren, We Are All Sailing Home; And By And By, When We Are Not Thinking Of It, Some Shadowy Thing (men Call It Death), At Midnight, Will Pass By, And Will Call Us By Name, And Will Say, "i Have A Message For You From Home; God Wants You; Heaven Waits For You.

Every Green Thing Loves To Die In Bright Colors. The Vegetable Cohorts March Glowing Out Of The Year In Flaming Dresses, As If To Leave This Earth Were A Triumph And Not A Sadness. It Is Never Nature That Is Sad, But Only We, That Dare Not Look Back On The Past, And That Have Not Its Prophecy Of The Future In Our Bosoms.

Morality Must Always Precede And Accompany Religion, And Yet Religion Is Much More Than Morality.

Every Fresh Act Of Benevolence Is The Herald Of Deeper Satisfaction; Every Charitable Act A Stepping-stone Towards Heaven.

Interest Works Night And Day In Fair Weather And In Foul. It Gnaws At A Man's Substance With Invisible Teeth.

A Man That Puts Himself On The Ground Of Moral Principle, If The Whole World Be Against Him, Is Mightier Than All Of Them.

Some Of God's Noblest Sons, I Think, Will Be Selected From Those That Know How To Take Wealth, With All Its Temptations, And Maintain Godliness Therewith. It Is Hard To Be A Saint Standing In A Golden Niche.

The Whole Of The Saviour's Ministerial Life, At Least The Part Of It That Stands On Record, Was Passed In What We May Call Substantially A Revival Work.

All Human Affairs Follow Nature's Great Analogue, The Growth Of Vegetation. There Are Three Periods Of Growth In Every Plant. The First, And Slowest, Is The Invisible Growth By The Root; The Second And Much Accelerated Is The Visible Growth By The Stem; But When Root And Stem Have Gathered Their Forces, There Comes The Third Period, In Which The Plant Quickly Flashes Into Blossom And Rushes Into Fruit.

What Is The Bible In Your House? It Is Not The Old Testament, It Is Not The New Testament, It Is Not The Gospel According To Matthew, Or Mark, Or Luke, Or John; It Is The Gospel According To William; It Is The Gospel According To Mary; It Is The Gospel According To Henry And James; It Is The Gospel According To Your Name. You Write Your Own Bible.

Suffering Is Part Of The Divine Idea.

Men Judge Of Christians By Taking As Fair Samples Those That Lie Rotten On The Ground.

A Good Digestion Is As Truly Obligatory As A Good Conscience; Pure Blood Is As Truly A Part Of Mankind As A Pure Faith; And A Well Ordered Skin Is The First Condition Of That Cleanliness Which Is Next To Godliness.

Pride Slays Thanksgiving, But A Humble Mind Is The Soil Out Of Which Thanks Naturally Grow. A Proud Man Is Seldom A Grateful Man, For He Never Thinks He Gets As Much As He Deserves.

O Lord God, We Pray That We May Be Inspired To Nobleness Of Life In The Least Things. May We Dignify All Our Daily Life. May We Set Such A Sacredness Upon Every Part Of Our Life, That Nothing Shall Be Trivial, Nothing Unimportant, And Nothing Dull, In The Daily Round.

The Pen Is The Tongue Of The Hand; A Silent Utterer Of Words For The Eye.

The Sphere That Is Deepest, Most Unexplored, And Most Unfathomable, The Wonder And Glory Of God's Thought And Hand, Is Our Own Soul!

The World Is To Be Cleaned By Somebody, And You Are Not Called Of God If You Are Ashamed To Scrub.

A Bird In A Cage Is Not Half A Bird.

If You Have Only Two Or Three Things That You Can Enjoy And They Are Things Which Time And Decay May Remove From You, What Are You Going To Do In Old Age?

A World Without A Sabbath Would Be Like A Man Without A Smile, Like Summer Without Flowers, And Like A Homestead Without A Garden. It Is The Most Joyous Day Of The Week.

The Sun Does Not Shine For A Few Trees, And Flowers, But For The Wide World's Joy. The Lonely Pine On The Mountain-top Waves Its Sombre Boughs And Cries, 'thou Art My Sun.' And The Little Meadow Violet Lifts Its Cup Of Blue, And Whispers With Its Perfumed Breath, 'thou Art My Sun.' And The Grain In A Thousand Fields Rustles In The Wind, And Makes Answer, 'thou Art My Sun.' So God Sits Effulgent In Heaven, Not For A Favored Few, But For The Universe Of Life; And There Is No Creature So Poor Or So Low That He May Not Look Up With Childish Confidence And Say, 'my Father, Thou Art Mine.

There Is No Slave Out Of Heaven Like A Loving Woman; And Of All Loving Women, There Is No Such Slave As A Mother.

The Beginnings Of Moral Enterprises In This World Are Never To Be Measured By Any Apparent Growth. ... At Length Comes The Sudden Ripeness And The Full Success, And He Who Is Called In At The Final Moment Deems This Success His Own. He Is But The Reaper And Not The Labourer. Other Men Sowed And Tilled And He But Enters Into Their Labours.

Whoever Makes Home Seem To The Young Dearer And More Happy, Is A Public Benefactor.

Flowers Are The Sweetest Things God Ever Made And Forgot To Put A Soul Into.

Though A Man Declares Himself An Atheist, It In No Way Alters His Obligations.

I Can Forgive, But I Cannot Forget, Is Only Another Way Of Saying, I Will Not Forgive. Forgiveness Ought To Be Like A Cancelled Note - Torn In Two, And Burned Up, So That It Never Can Be Shown Against One.

The Art Of Being Happy Lies In The Power Of Extracting Happiness From Common Things.

Some Men Think That The Globe Is A Sponge That God Puts Into Their Hands To Squeeze For Their Own Garden Or Flower-pot.

The Man Who Perceives Life Only With His Eye, His Ear, His Hand, And His Tongue, Is But Little Higher Than The Ox Or An Intelligent Dog; But He Who Has Imagination Sees Things Around And Above Him, As The Angels See Them.

It Takes A Man To Make A Devil.

You Have Come Into A Hard World. I Know Of Only One Easy Place In It, And That Is The Grave.

He Will See Most Without Who Has The Best Eyes Within; And He Who Only Sees With His Bodily Organs Sees But The Surface.

We Are Always On The Anvil; By Trials God Is Shaping Us For Higher Things.

Every Artist Dips His Brush In His Own Soul, And Paints His Own Nature Into His Pictures.

There Is Not On Earth So Base A Knave As The Man Who Wins The Love Of A Woman When He Knows That He Cannot Or Ought Not To Requite It.

May We Be Satisfied With Nothing That Shall Not Have In It Something Of Immortality.

Each Book Has A Secret History Of Ways And Means.

A Library Is But The Soul's Burial Ground; It Is The Land Of Shadows. Yet One Is Impressed With The Thought, The Labor, And The Struggle, Represented In This Vast Catacomb Of Books. Who Could Dream, By The Placid Waters That Issue From The Level Mouths Of Brooks Into The Lake, All The Plunges, The Whirls, The Divisions, And Foaming Rushes That Had Brought Them Down To The Tranquil Exit? And Who Can Guess Through What Channels Of Disturbance, And Experiences Of Sorrow, The Heart Passed That Has Emptied Into This Dead Sea Of Books?

Living Is Death; Dying Is Life. We Are Not What We Appear To Be. On This Side Of The Grave We Are Exiles, On That Citizens; On This Side Orphans, On That Children.

Sharp Men, Like Sharp Needles, Break Easy, Though They Pierce Quick.

As Plants Take Hold, Not For The Sake Of Staying, But Only That They May Climb Higher, So It Is With Men. By Every Part Of Our Nature We Clasp Things Above Us, One After Another, Not For The Sake Of Remaining Where We Take Hold, But That We May Go Higher.

There Ought To Be Such An Atmosphere In Every Christian Church That A Man Going There And Sitting Two Hours Should Take The Contagion Of Heaven, And Carry Home A Fire To Kindle The Altar Whence He Came.

There Is No Such Thing As Preaching Patience Into People, Unless The Sermon Is So Long That They Have To Practice It While They Hear. No Man Can Learn Patience Except By Going Out Into The Hurlyburly World, And Taking Life Just As It Blows. Patience Is But Lying To, And Riding Out The Gale.

God Does Not Refuse To Make Himself Known To Man. He Only Will Not Do It By The Symbolism Of Matter. He Comes To Us At Once By The Most Natural Course. We Are In A Transient State; Our Bodies Are Accidental, And God Comes To Us By That Which Is Higher And Truer--the Intuitions Of The Soul.

Books Are The Windows Through Which The Soul Looks Out.

A Man Who Does Not Love Praise Is Not A Full Man.

Affliction Comes To Us All, Not To Make Us Sad, But Sober; Not To Make Us Sorry, But To Make Us Wise; Not To Make Us Despondent, But By Its Darkness To Refresh Us As The Night Refreshes The Day; Not To Impoverish, But To Enrich Us

We Rejoice In God Since He Has Taught Us That Every Thing Which Is True In Us, Is But A Faint Expression Of What Is In Him. And Thus All Our Joys Become To Us The Echo Of Higher Joys, And Our Very Life Is As A Dream Of That Nobler Life, To Which We Shall Awaken When We Die.

Be A Hard Master To Yourself - And Be Lenient To Everybody Else.

The Monkey Is An Organized Sarcasm Upon The Human Race.

Any Man Can Work When Every Stroke Of His Hands Brings Down The Fruit Rattling From The Tree ... But To Labor In Season And Out Of Season, Under Every Discouragement... That Requires A Heroism Which Is Transcendent.

A Boy Is A Piece Of Existence Quite Separate From All Things Else, And Deserves Separate Chapters In The Natural History Of Men.

The Highest Order That Was Ever Instituted On Earth Is The Order Of Faith.

The Real Man Is One Who Always Finds Excuses For Others, But Never Excuses Himself.

In This World It Is Not What We Take Up, But What We Give Up, That Makes Us Rich.

God Is Like Us To This Extent, That Whatever In Us Is Good Is Like God.

Men Who Stand On Any Other Foundation Than The Rock Christ Jesus Are Like Birds That Build In Trees By The Side Of Rivers. The Bird Sings In The Branches, And The River Sings Below, But All The While The Waters Are Undermining The Soil About The Roots, Till, In Some Unsuspected Hour, The Tree Falls With A Crash Into The Stream; And Then Its Nest Is Sunk, Its Home Is Gone, And The Bird Is A Wanderer.

The Religion That Fosters Intolerance Needs Another Christ To Die For It.

It Is Not What We Read, But What We Remember, That Makes Us Learned. It Is Not What We Intend, But What We Do That Makes Us Useful. It Is Not A Few Faint Wishes, But A Life Long Struggle, That Makes Us Valiant.

A Little Library, Growing Every Year, Is An Honorable Part Of A Man’s History. It Is A Man’s Duty To Have Books.

Our Children That Die Young Are Like Those Spring Bulbs Which Have Their Flowers Prepared Beforehand, And Leave Nothing To Do But To Break Ground, And Blossom, And Pass Away. Thank God For Spring Flowers Among Men, As Well As Among The Grasses Of The Field.

Doctrine Is Nothing But The Skin Of Truth Set Up And Stuffed.

The Methods By Which Men Have Met And Conquered Trouble, Or Been Slain By It, Are The Same In Every Age. Some Have Floated On The Sea, And Trouble Carried Them On Its Surface As The Sea Carries Cork. Some Have Sunk At Once To The Bottom As Foundering Ships Sink. Some Have Run Away From Their Own Thoughts. Some Have Coiled Themselves Up Into A Stoical Indifference. Some Have Braved The Trouble, And Defied It. Some Have Carried It As A Tree Does A Wound, Until By New Wood It Can Overgrow And Cover The Old Gash.

The World Is God's Workshop For Making Men In.

When Leisure Is A Selfish Luxury, Its Very Activity, When It Stirs, Is Apt To Be Only A Kind Of Indolence Taking Exercise, That It May The Better Digest Its Selfishness.

Many Will Say, "i Can Find God Without The Help Of The Bible, Or Church, Or Minister." Very Well. Do So If You Can. The Ferry Company Would Feel No Jealousy Of A Man Who Should Prefer To Swim To New York. Let Him Do So If He Is Able, And We Will Talk About It On The Other Shore; But Probably Trying To Swim Would Be The Thing That Would Bring Him Quickest To The Boat. So God Would Have No Jealousy Of A Man's Going To Heaven Without The Aid Of The Bible, Or Church, Or Minister; But Let Him Try To Do So, And It Will Be The Surest Way To Bring Him Back To Them For Assistance.

Flowers . . . Have A Mysterious And Subtle Influence Upon The Feelings, Not Unlike Some Strains Of Music. They Relax The Tenseness Of The Mind. They Dissolve Its Rigor.

Nature Is A Vast Repository Of Manly Enjoyments.

No Town Can Fail Of Beauty, Though Its Walks Were Gutters And Its Houses Hovels, If Venerable Trees Make Magnificent Colonnades Along Its Streets.

The Meanest Thing In The World Is The Devil.

Laugh At Your Friends, And If Your Friends Are Sore; So Much The Better, You May Laugh The More.

What If The Leaves Were To Fall A-weeping, And Say, "it Will Be So Painful For Us To Be Pulled From Our Stalks, When Autumn Comes?" Foolish Fear! Summer Goes, And Autumn Succeeds. The Glory Of Death Is Upon The Leaves; And The Gentlest Breeze That Blows Takes Them Softly And Silently From The Bough, And They Float Slowly Down, Like Fiery Sparks, Upon The Moss.

When There Is Love In The Heart, There Are Rainbows In The Eyes, Which Cover Every Black Cloud With Gorgeous Hues.

Debt Rolls A Man Over And Over, Binding Him Hand And Foot, And Letting Him Hang Upon The Fatal Mesh Until The Long-legged Interest Devours Him.

If You Attempt To Beat A Man Down And To Get His Goods For Less Than A Fair Price, You Are Attempting To Commit Burglary, As Much As Though You Broke Into His Shop To Take The Things Without Paying For Them.

A Person Without A Sense Of Humor Is Like A Wagon Without Springs. It's Jolted By Every Pebble On The Road.

The Greatest Architect And The One Most Needed Is Hope.

There Is No True And Abiding Morality That Is Not Founded In Religion.

All Higher Motives, Ideals, Conceptions, Sentiments In A Man Are Of No Account If They Do Not Come Forward To Strengthen Him For The Better Discharge Of The Duties Which Devolve Upon Him In The Ordinary Affairs Of Life.

There Is An Ugly Kind Of Forgiveness In This World--a Kind Of Hedgehog Forgiveness, Shot Out Like Quills.

Nobody Ever Sees Truth Except In Fragments.

There Is A Great Deal More Correctness Of Thought Respecting Manhood In Bodily Things Than In Moral Things. For Men's Ideas Of Manhood Shape Themselves As The Tower And Spire Of Cathedrals Do, That Stand Broad At The Bottom, But Grow Tapering As They Rise, And End, Far Up, In The Finest Lines, And In An Evanishing Point. Where They Touch The Ground They Are Most, And Where They Reach To The Heaven They Are Least.

Unfruitful Emotion Is To Be Suspected. Feeling Acts As An Impulse, As A Spur, As A Spring, And When Feelings Are Excited, And They Put Nothing Forward, They Are Sometimes Even Dangerous To A Man.

We Know Much Of A Writer By His Style. An Open And Imperious Disposition Is Shown In Short Sentences, Direct And Energetic. A Secretive And Proud Mind Is Cold And Obscure In Style. An Affectionate And Imaginative Nature Pours Out Luxuriantly, And Blossoms All Over With Ornament.

The Divine Mind Does Not Think For Us, Or Inspite Of Us, But Works In Us To Think, And To Will, And To Do.

We Let Our Blessings Get Mouldy, And Then Call Them Curses.

The Indolent Mind Is Not Empty, But Full Of Vermin.

Money In The Hands Of One Or Two Men Is Like A Dungheap In A Barnyard. So Long As It Lies In A Mass, It Does No Good; But, If It Is Only Spread Out Evenly On The Land, Everything Will Grow.

Good-humor Makes All Things Tolerable

The Disciples Found Angels At The Grave Of Him They Loved; And We Should Always Find Them Too, But That Our Eyes Are Too Full Of Tears For Seeing.

No Man Can Tell Another His Faults So As To Benefit Him, Unless He Loves Him.

Education Is Only Like Good Culture,--it Changes The Size, But Not The Sort.

Every City Should Make The Common School So Rich, So Large, So Ample, So Beautiful In Its Endowments, And So Fruitful In Its Results, That A Private School Will Not Be Able To Live Under The Drip Of It.

Many Men Build As Cathedrals Are Built-the Part Nearest The Ground Finished, But That Part Which Soars Toward Heaven, The Turrets And The Spires, Forever Incomplete.

Never Excuse Yourself.

Of All Joyful, Smiling, Ever-laughing Experiences, There Are None Like Those Which Spring From True Religion.

Nothing Can Be Further Apart Than True Humility And Servility.

Riches Are Not An End Of Life, But An Instrument Of Life.

Even A Liar Tells A Hundred Truths To One Lie; He Has To, To Make The Lie Good For Anything.

Our Life Is In The Loom; It Rolls Up And Is Hidden As Fast As It Is Woven. It Is To Be Taken Out Of The Loom Only When We Leave This World; Then Only Shall We See The Pattern.

The Great Men Of Earth Are The Shadow Men, Who, Having Lived And Died, Now Live Again And Forever Through Their Undying Thoughts. Thus Living, Though Their Footfalls Are Heard No More, Their Voices Are Louder Than The Thunder, And Unceasing As The Flow Of Tides Or Air.

Every Man Carries A Menagerie In Himself; And, By Stirring Him Up All Around, You Will Find Every Sort Of Animal Represented There.

Like The Cellar-growing Vine Is The Christian Who Lives In The Darkness And Bondage Of Fear. But Let Him Go Forth, With The Liberty Of God, Into The Light Of Love, And He Will Be Like The Plant In The Field, Healthy, Robust, And Joyful.

In Engineering, That Only Is Great Which Achieves. It Matters Not What The Intention Is, He Who In The Day Of Battle Is Not Victorious Is Not Saved By His Intention.

A Book Is Good Company. It Is Full Of Conversation Without Loquacity. It Comes To Your Longing With Full Instruction, But Pursues You Never.

I Have Known Men Who Thought The Object Of Conversion Was To Cleanse Them As A Garment Is Cleansed, And That When They Are Converted They Were To Be Hung Up In The Lord's Wardrobe, The Door Of Which Was To Be Shut, So That No Dust Could Get At Them. A Coat That Is Not Used The Moths Eat; And A Christian Who Is Hung Up So That He Shall Not Be Tempted, The Moths Eat Him; And They Have Poor Food At That.

Affliction Comes To The Believer Not To Make Him Sad, But Sober; Not To Make Him Sorry, But Wise. Even As The Plow Enriches The Field So That The Seed Is Multiplied A Thousandfold, So Affliction Should Magnify Our Joy And Increase Our Spiritual Harvest.

Very Few Men Acquire Wealth In Such A Manner As To Receive Pleasure From It.

Fear Secretes Acids; But Love And Trust Are Sweet Juices.

The Superfluous Blossoms On A Fruit Tree Are Meant To Symbolize The Large Way God Loves To Do Pleasant Things.

It Is The End Of Art To Inoculate Men With The Love Of Nature.

Someone Calls Biography The Home Aspect Of History.

To Do Good Work A Man Should No Doubt Be Industrious. To Do Great Work He Must Certainly Be Idle A Well.

The Commerce Of The World Is Conducted By The Strong, And Usually It Operates Against The Weak.

Books Are Not Men And Yet They Stay Alive.

We May Cover A Multitude Of Sins With The White Robe Of Charity.

Trending Author

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Oswald Chambers

Richard G. Scott

Category