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Every Event In This World Is The Effect Of Some Precedent Cause, And Also The Cause Of Some Subsequent Effect.
-Horace Mann
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Every Event In This

Horace Mann
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Every Event In This World Is The Effect Of Some Precedent Cause, And Also The Cause Of Some Subsequent Effect.

Understanding the Quote: "every event in this world is the effect of some precedent cause,..."

This quote by Horace Mann reflects deeply on the theme of events. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Events, World, Causes, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Horace Mann interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Horace Mann

Horace Mann is celebrated for insightful thoughts on events and world. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Events
World
Causes
More From Horace Mann
In Our Country And In Our Times No Man Is Worthy The Honored Name Of Statesman Who Does Not Include The Highest Practicable Education Of The People In All His Plans Of Administration. He May Have Eloquence, He May Have A Knowledge Of All History, Diplomacy, Jurisprudence; And By These He Might Claim, In Other Countries, The Elevated Rank Of A Statesman: But Unless He Speaks, Plans, Labors, At All Times And In All Places, For The Culture And Edification Of The Whole People, He Is Not, He Cannot Be, An American Statesman.
Country
Men
Names
Teaching Isn't One-tenth As Effective As Training.
Teacher
Teaching
Training
He Who Cannot Resist Temptation Is Not A Man.
Men
Temptation
Temptation Life
The Education Already Given To The People Creates The Necessity Of Giving Them More.
Education
People
Giving
When Will Society, Like A Mother, Take Care Of All Her Children?
Education
Mother
Children
Every School Boy And School Girl Who Has Arrived At The Age Of Reflection Ought To Know Something About The History Of The Art Of Printing.
Girl
Art
School
Knowledge Is A Mimic Creation.
Knowledge
Creation
Astronomy Is One Of The Sublimest Fields Of Human Investigation. The Mind That Grasps Its Facts And Principles Receives Something Of The Enlargement And Grandeur Belonging To The Science Itself. It Is A Quickener Of Devotion.
Science
Mind
Principles
They Who Set An Example Make A Highway. Others Follow The Example, Because It Is Easier To Travel On A Highway Than Over Untrodden Grounds.
Example
Easier
Highways
Republics, One After Another . . . Have Perished From A Want Of Intelligence And Virtue In The Masses Of The People. . . .
Education
People
Republic
It Is Well To Think Well; It Is Divine To Act Well.
Courage
Character
Thinking
There Is Nothing So Costly As Ignorance.
Ignorance
Generosity During Life Is A Very Different Thing From Generosity In The Hour Of Death; One Proceeds From Genuine Liberality And Benevolence, The Other From Pride Or Fear.
Death
Fear
Pride
Good Books Are To The Young Mind What The Warming Sun And The Refreshing Rain Of Spring Are To The Seeds Which Have Lain Dormant In The Frosts Of Winter. They Are More, For They May Save From That Which Is Worse Than Death, As Well As Bless With That Which Is Better Than Life.
Spring
Rain
Book
The Most Precious Wine Is Produced Upon The Sides Of Volcanoes. Now Bold And Inspiring Ideals Are Only Born Of A Clear Head That Stands Over A Glowing Heart.
Heart
Wine
Clear Head
It Would Be More Honourable To Our Distinguished Ancestors To Praise Them In Words Less, But In Deeds To Imitate Them More.
Grandparent
Would Be
Deeds
As Each Generation Comes Into The World Devoid Of Knowledge, Its First Duty Is To Obtain Possession Of The Stores Already Amassed. It Must Overtake Its Predecessors Before It Can Pass By Them.
Knowledge
Generations
World
If You Can Express Yourself So As To Be Perfectly Understood In Ten Words, Never Use A Dozen.
Use
Dozen
Express Yourself
Willmott Has Very Tersely Said That Embellished Truths Are The Illuminated Alphabet Of Larger Children.
Children
Fables
Alphabet
When The Panting And Thirsting Soul First Drinks The Delicious Waters Of Truth, When The Moral And Intellectual Tastes And Desires First Seize The Fragrant Fruits That Flourish In The Garden Of Knowledge, Then Does The Child Catch A Glimpse And Foretaste Of Heaven.
Children
Knowledge
Garden
Love Must Be The Same In All Worlds.
Love
World
A Teacher Who Is Attempting To Teach Without Inspiring The Pupil With A Desire To Learn Is Hammering On Cold Iron.
Inspirational
Inspiring
Education
Schoolhouses Are The Republican Line Of Fortifications.
Education
Lines
Republican
Seek Not Greatness, But Seek Truth And You Will Find Both.
Truth
Greatness
Jails And Prisons Are The Complement Of Schools; So Many Less As You Have Of The Latter, So Many More Must You Have Of The Former.
Inspirational
Education
School
Whatever Statesman Or Sage Will Effect Reforms Upon A Gigantic Or Godlike Scale Must Begin With The Young.
Reform
Sage
Young
If Evil Is Inevitable, How Are The Wicked Accountable? Nay, Why Do We Call Men Wicked At All? Evil Is Inevitable, But Is Also Remediable.
Reality
Men
Evil
The Object Of Punishment Is, Prevention From Evil; It Never Can Be Made Impulsive To Good.
Punishment
Evil
Prevention
Spurn Not At Seeming Error, But Dig Below Its Surface For The Truth; And Beware Of Seeming Truths That Grow On The Roots Of Error.
Truth
Errors
Roots
If Ever There Was A Cause, If Ever There Can Be A Cause, Worthy To Be Upheld By All Of Toil Or Sacrifice That The Human Heart Can Endure, It Is The Cause Of Education.
Heart
Sacrifice
Toil
The Most Formidable Attribute Of Temptation Is Its Increasing Power, Its Accelerating Ratio Of Velocity. Every Act Of Repetition Increases Power, Diminishes Resistance. It Is Like The Letting Out Of Waters-where A Drop Can Go, A River Can Go. Whoever Yields To Temptation, Subjects Himself To The Law Of Falling Bodies.
Fall
Yield
Law
We Put Things In Order - God Does The Rest. Lay An Iron Bar East And West, It Is Not Magnetized. Lay It North And South And It Is.
Order
Iron
Doe
Injustice Alone Can Shake Down The Pillars Of The Skies, And Restore The Reign Of Chaos And Night.
Inspirational
Night
Sky
Resolve To Edge In A Little Reading Every Day, If It Is But A Single Sentence. If You Gain Fifteen Minutes A Day, It Will Make Itself Felt At The End Of The Year.
Inspirational
Success
Reading
If An Idiot Were To Tell You The Same Story Every Day For A Year, You Would End By Believing It.
Believe
Years
Stories
New Constellations Of Truth Are Daily Discovered In The Firmament Of Knowledge, And New Stars Are Daily Shining Forth In Each Constellation.
Stars
Truth
Shining
A House Without Books Is Like A Room Without Windows.
Life
Happiness
Attitude
Knowledge Is But An Instrument, Which The Profligate And The Flagitious May Use As Well As The Brave And The Just.
Knowledge
Brave
Use
Common Sense Is Better Than Genius, And Hence Its Bestowment Is More Universal.
Common Sense
Genius
Common
You May Be Liberal In Your Praise Where Praise Is Due: It Costs Nothing; It Encourages Much.
Cost
May
Praise
Deeds Survive The Doers.
Survival
Deeds
Doers
The Earth Endured Christ's Ministry Only Three Years;--not Three Weeks After His Real Character And Purposes Were Generally Known.
Jesus
Real
Character
To Pity Distress Is But Human; To Relieve It Is Godlike.
Inspiring
Forgiveness
Compassion
Knowledge Has Its Boundary Line, Where It Abuts On Ignorance; On The Outside Of That Boundary Line Are Ignorance And Miracles; On The Inside Of It Are Science And No Miracles.
Ignorance
Knowledge
Miracle
Resistance To Improvement Contradicts The Noblest Instincts Of The Race. It Begets Its Opposite. The Fanaticism Of Reform Is Only The Raging Of The Accumulated Waters Caused By The Obstructions Which An Ultra Conservatism Has Thrown Across The Stream Of Progress; And Revolution Itself Is But The Sudden Overwhelming And Sweeping Away Of Impediments That Should Have Been Seasonably Removed.
Should Have
Opposites
Race
A Republican Form Of Government, Without Intelligence In The People, Must Be, On A Vast Scale, What A Mad-house, Without Superintendent Or Keepers, Would Be On A Small One.
Government
People
Mad
As An Innovation... The Establishment Of Free Schools Was The Boldest Ever Promulgated, Since The Commencement Of The Christian Era... Time Has Ratified Its Soundness. Two Centuries Proclaim It To Be As Wise As It Was Courageous, As Beneficient As It Was Disinterested. It Was One Of Those Grand Mental And Moral Experiments... The Sincerity Of Our Gratitude Must Be Tested By Our Efforts To Perpetuate And Improve What They Established. The Gratitude Of The Lips Only Is An Unholy Offering.
Christian
Wise
Gratitude
Every Event In This World Is The Effect Of Some Precedent Cause, And Also The Cause Of Some Subsequent Effect.
Events
World
Causes
Without Undervaluing Any Other Human Agency, It May Be Safely Affirmed That The Common School, Improved And Energized, As It Can Easily Be, May Become The Most Effective And Benignant Of All The Forces Of Civilization. Two Reasons Sustain This Position. In The First Place, There Is A Universality In Its Operation, Which Can Be Affirmed Of No Other Institution Whatever... And, In The Second Place, The Materials Upon Which It Operates Are So Pliant And Ductile As To Be Susceptible Of Assuming A Greater Variety Of Forms Than Any Other Earthly Work Of The Creator.
School
Civilization
Two
When A Child Can Be Brought To Tears, Not From Fear Of Punishment, But From Repentance For His Offence, He Needs No Chastisement. When The Tears Begin To Flow From Grief At One's Own Conduct, Be Sure There Is An Angel Nestling In The Bosom.
Children
Grief
Heart
When You Introduce Into Our Schools A Spirit Of Emulation, You Have Present The Keenest Spur Admissible To The Youthful Intellect.
Education
School
Spurs
Patient Perseverance In Well Doing Is Infinitely Harder Than A Sudden And Impulsive Self-sacrifice.
Perseverance
Sacrifice
Self
Education Is An Organic Necessity Of A Human Being.
Education
Science
Humans
Ten Men Have Failed From Defect In Morals, Where One Has Failed From Defect In Intellect.
Men
Morality
Intellect
As All Truth Is From God, It Necessarily Follows That True Science And True Religion Can Never Be At Variance.
Truth Is
True Religion
Variance
We Do Ourselves The Most Good Doing Something For Others.
Undoing
If Temperance Prevails, Then Education Can Prevail; If Temperance Fails, Then Education Must Fail.
Failing
Temperance
Ifs
Let Us Labor For That Larger Comprehension Of Truth, And That More Thorough Repudiation Of Error, Which Shall Make The History Of Mankind A Series Of Ascending Developments.
Truth
Errors
Development
Teachers Teach Because They Care. Teaching Young People Is What They Do Best. It Requires Long Hours, Patience, And Care.
Thank You
Teacher
Teaching
Under The Providence Of God, Our Means Of Education Are The Grand Machinery By Which The 'raw Material' Of Human Nature Can Be Worked Up Into Inventors And Discoverers, Into Skilled Artisans And Scientific Farmers, Into Scholars And Jurists, Into The Founders Of Benevolent Institutions, And The Great Expounders Of Ethical And Theological Science.
Education
Mean
Science
We Are Prone To Seek Immediate Pleasure Or Good, However Small, Rather Than Remote Pleasure Or Good, However Vast.
Pleasure
Thank Heaven, The Female Heart Is Untenantable By Atheism.
Heart
Heaven
Atheism
Manners Easily And Rapidly Mature Into Morals.
Moral
Mature
Manners
If Any Man Seeks For Greatness, Let Him Forget Greatness And Ask For Truth, And He Will Find Both.
Truth
Greatness
Men
Every Nerve That Can Thrill With Pleasure, Can Also Agonize With Pain.
Pain
Nerves
Thrill
Of All "rights" Which Command Attention At The Present Time Among Us, Woman's Rights Seem To Take Precedence.
Rights
Attention
Command
Lost, Yesterday, Somewhere Between Sunrise And Sunset, Two Golden Hours, Each Set With Sixty Diamond Minutes. No Reward Is Offered For They Are Gone Forever.
Life
Time
Sunset
To-day Massachusetts; And The Whole Of The American Republic, From The Border Of Maine To The Pacific Slopes, And From The Lakes To The Gulf, Stand Upon The Immutable And Everlasting Principles Of Equal And Exact Justice. The Days Of Unrequited Labor Are Numbered With The Past. Fugitive Slave Laws Are Only Remembered As Relics Of That Barbarism Which John Wesley Pronounced "the Sum Of All Villainies," And Whose Knowledge Of Its Blighting Effects Was Matured By His Travels In Georgia And The Carolinas.
Past
Lakes
Law
The Experience Of The Ages That Are Past, The Hopes Of The Ages That Are Yet To Come, Unite Their Voices In An Appeal To Us;– They Implore Us To Think More Of The Character Of Our People Than Of Its Numbers; To Look Upon Our Vast Natural Resources, Not As Tempters To Ostentation And Pride, But As Means To Be Converted By The Refining Alchemy Of Education Into Mental And Spiritual Treasures; ...and Thus Give To The World The Example Of A Nation Whose Wisdom Increases With Its Prosperity, And Whose Virtues Are Equal To Its Power.
Education
Spiritual
Character
Keep One Thing In View Forever- The Truth; And If You Do This, Though It May Seem To Lead You Away From The Opinion Of Men, It Will Assuredly Conduct You To The Throne Of God.
Men
Views
Forever
In Dress, Seek The Middle Between Foppery And Shabbiness.
Fashion
Dresses
Middle
He Who Dethrones The Idea Of Law, Bids Chaos Welcome In Its Stead.
Law
Ideas
Welcome
A Teacher Should, Above All Things, First Induce A Desire In The Pupil For The Acquisition He Wishes To Impart.
Teacher
Teaching
Desire
The Chinese Have An Excellent Proverb: "be Modest In Speech, But Excel In Action.
Chinese
Speech
Action
No Error Is Infused Into The Young Mind, To Lie There Dormant, Or To Be Reproduced Only When The Subject Of Thought Or Action Recurs To Which The Error Belongs; But The Error Becomes A Model Or Archetype, After Whose Likeness The Active Powers Of The Mind Create A Thousand Other Errors.
Lying
Errors
Mind
Be Careful Never To Retire To Rest In A Room Not Properly Ventilated.
Rooms
Be Careful
Retiring
The Earth Flourishes, Or Is Overrun With Noxious Weeds And Brambles, As We Apply Or Withhold The Cultivating Hand. So Fares It With The Intellectual System Of Man.
Weed
Men
Hands
After A Child Has Arrived At The Legal Age For Attending School,-whether He Be The Child Of Noble Or Of Peasant,-the Only Two Absolute Grounds Of Exemption From Attendance Are Sickness And Death.
Children
School
Two
You May As Well Borrow A Person's Money As His Time.
Inspirational
Time
May
Scientific Truth Is Marvelous, But Moral Truth Is Divine And Whoever Breathes Its Air And Walks By Its Light Has Found The Lost Paradise.
Truth
Science
Air
He Who Shuts Out Truth, By The Same Act Opens The Door To All The Error That Supplies Its Place.
Errors
Doors
Supplies
Genius May Conceive But Patient Labor Must Consummate.
Genius
May
Patient
Great Knowledge Is Requisite To Instruct Those Who Have Been Well Instructed, But Still Greater Knowledge Is Requisite To Instruct Those Who Have Been Neglected.
Teaching
Neglected
Wells
We Go By The Major Vote, And If The Majority Are Insane, The Sane Must Go To The Hospital.
Insane
Majority
Vote
Education Is Our Only Political Safety. Outside Of This Ark All Is Deluge.
Education
Safety
Political
Manners Are The Root, Laws Only The Trunk And Branches. Manners Are The Archetypes Of Laws. Manners Are Laws In Their Infancy; Laws Are Manners Fully Grown,--or, Manners Are Children, Which, When They Grow Up, Become Laws.
Children
Growing Up
Law
On The Face Of It, It Must Be A Bad Cause Which Will Not Bear Discussion. Truth Seeks Light Instead Of Shunning It.
Light
Faces
Causes
Observation - Activity Of Both Eyes And Ears.
Eye
Ears
Observation
A Human Being Is Not Attaining His Full Heights Until He Is Educated.
Education
Inspire
Height
Doing Nothing For Others Is The Undoing Of Ourselves.
Compassion
Helping Others
Help And Support
There May Be Frugality Which Is Not Economy. A Community, That Withholds The Means Of Education From Its Children, Withholds The Bread Of Life And Starves Their Souls.
Education
Teacher
Children
True Glory Is A Flame Lighted At The Skies.
Flames
Sky
Glory
Ideality Is The Avant-courier Of The Mind.
Mind
Virtue Is An Angel, But She Is A Blind One, And Must Ask Knowledge To Show Her The Pathway That Leads To Her Goal.
Angel
Goal
Pathways
School Is The Cheapest Police.
School
Police
The Pulpit Only "teaches" To Be Honest; The Market-place "trains" To Overreaching And Fraud; And Teaching Has Not A Tithe Of The Efficiency Of Training. Christ Never Wrote A Tract, But He Went About Doing Good.
Teaching
Training
Example
Want Of Occupation Is The Bane Of Both Men And Women, Perhaps More Especially Of The Latter.
Men
Occupation
Want
We Conceive Of Immortality As Having A Beginning, But No End; But We Conceive Of Eternity As Having Neither Beginning Nor End. Hence It Is Proper To Speak Of Eternity As The Attribute Of God, But Of Immortality As The Attribute Of Man.
Men
Speak
Eternity
If You Wish To Write Well, Study The Life About You,--life In The Public Streets.
Writing
Wish
Study
God Draweth Straight Lines But We Call Them Crooked.
Lines
Crooked
Straight Lines
One Thing I Certainly Never Was Made For, And That Is To Put Principles On And Off At The Dictation Of A Party, As A Lackey Changes His Livery At His Master's Command.
Change
Party
Principles
Education Must Bring The Practice As Nearly As Possible To The Theory. As The Children Now Are, So Will The Sovereigns Soon Be.
Education
Children
Practice
Affectation Hides Three Times As Many Virtues As Charity Does Sins.
Doe
Three
Charity
Forts, Arsenals, Garrisons, Armies, Navies, Are Means Of Security And Defence, Which Were Invented In Half-civilized Times And In Feudal Or Despotic Countries; But Schoolhouses Are The Republican Line Of Fortifications, And If They Are Dismantled And Dilapidated, Ignorance And Vice Will Pour In Their Legions Through Every Breach.
Country
Ignorance
Mean
Above All, Let The Poor Hang Up The Amulet Of Temperance In Their Homes.
Home
Amulets
Poor
Man ... Has An Inborn Religious Sentiment That Whispers Of A God To His Inmost Soul, As A Shell Taken From The Deep Yet Echoes Forever The Ocean's Roar.
God
Religious
Taken
So, In The Infinitely Nobler Battle In Which You Are Engaged Against Error And Wrong, If Ever Repulsed Or Stricken Down, May You Always Be Solaced And Cheered By The Exulting Cry Of Triumph Over Some Abuse In Church Or State, Some Vice Or Folly In Society, Some False Opinion Or Cruelty Or Guilt Which You Have Overcome! And I Beseech You To Treasure Up In Your Hearts These My Parting Words: Be Ashamed To Die Until You Have Won Some Victory For Humanity.
Heart
Errors
Humanity
Let But The Public Mind Become Once Thoroughly Corrupt, And All Attempts To Secure Property, Liberty Or Life, By Mere Force Of Laws Written On Parchment, Will Be As Vain As To Put Up Printed Notices In An Orchard To Keep Off The Canker-worms.
Apples
Law
Effort
Be Ashamed To Die Until You Have Won Some Victory For Humanity.
Life
Death
Badass
So Multifarious Are The Different Classes Of Truths, And So Multitudinous The Truths In Each Class, That It May Be Undoubtingly Affirmed That No Man Has Yet Lived Who Could So Much As Name All The Different Classes And Subdivisions Of Truths, And Far Less Anyone Who Was Acquainted With All The Truths Belonging To Any One Class. What Wonderful Extent, What Amazing Variety, What Collective Magnificence! And If Such Be The Number Of Truths Pertaining To This Tiny Ball Of Earth, How Must It Be In The Incomprehensible Immensity!
Men
Class
Names
The False Man Is More False To Himself Than To Any One Else. He May Despoil Others, But Himself Is The Chief Loser. The World's Scorn He Might Sometimes Forget, But The Knowledge Of His Own Perfidy Is Undying.
Men
Might
World
If Ever There Was A Cause, If Ever There Can Be A Cause, Worthy To Be Upheld By All Of Toil Or Sacrifice That The Human Heart Can Endure, It Is The Cause Of Education. It Has Intrinsic And Indestructible Merits. It Holds The Welfare Of Mankind In Its Embrace, As The Protecting Arms Of A Mother Hold Her Infant To Her Bosom. The Very Ignorance And Selfishness Which Obstructs Its Path Are The Strongest Arguments For Its Promotion, For It Furnishes The Only Adequate Means For Their Removal.
Education
Mother
Ignorance
Unfaithfulness In The Keeping Of An Appointment Is An Act Of Clear Dishonesty. You May As Well Borrow A Person's Money As His Time.
Money
Honesty
Integrity
Man Is Improvable. Some People Think He Is Only A Machine, And That The Only Difference Between A Man And A Mill Is, That One Is Carried By Blood And The Other By Water.
Men
Thinking
Blood
Even The Choicest Literature Should Be Taken As The Condiment, And Not As The Sustenance Of Life. It Should Be Neither The Warp Nor The Woof Of Existence, But Only The Flowery Edging Upon Its Borders.
Taken
Borders
Literature
We Must Be Purposely Kind And Generous Or We Miss The Best Part Of Life's Existence.
Kindness
Missing
Undoing
Truths, No Matter How Momentous Or Enduring, Are Nothing To The Individual Until He Appreciates Them, And Feels Their Force, And Acknowledges Their Sovereignty. He Cannot Bow To Their Majesty Until He Sees Their Power. All The Blind Then, And All The Ignorant--that Is, All The Children--must Be Educated Up To The Point Of Perceiving And Admitting The Truth, And Acting According To Its Mandates.
Children
Appreciate
Ignorant
It Is Well, When The Wise And The Learned Discover New Truths; But How Much Better To Diffuse The Truths Already Discovered, Amongst The Multitude! Every Addition To True Knowledge Is An Addition To Human Power; And While A Philosopher Is Discovering One New Truth, Millions May Be Propagated Amongst The People. Diffusion, Then, Rather Than Discovery, Is The Duty Of Our Government.
Wise
Learning
Knowledge
There Is Nothing Derogatory In Any Employment Which Ministers To The Well-being Of The Race. It Is The Spirit That Is Carried Into An Employment That Elevates Or Degrades It.
Work
Race
Employment
But Let A Man Know That There Are Things To Be Known, Of Which He Is Ignorant, And It Is So Much Carved Out Of His Domain Of Universal Knowledge.
Ignorance
Men
Ignorant
A House Without Books Is Like A Room Without Windows. No Man Has A Right To Bring Up His Children Without Surrounding Them With Books, If He Has The Means To Buy Them. It Is A Wrong To His Family. He Cheats Them! Children Learn To Read By Being In The Presence Of Books. The Love Of Knowledge Comes With Reading And Grows Upon It.
Love
Children
Growing Up
I Look Upon Phrenology As The Guide To Philosophy And The Handmaid Of Christianity. Whoever Disseminates True Phrenology Is A Public Benefactor.
Philosophy
Phrenology
Looks
The Soul Of The Truly Benevolent Man Does Not Seem To Reside Much In His Own Body. Its Life, To A Great Extent, Is A Mere Reflex Of The Lives Of Others. It Migrates Into Their Bodies, And Identifying Its Existence With Their Existence, Finds Its Own Happiness In Increasing And Prolonging Their Pleasures, In Extinguishing Or Solacing Their Pains.
Pain
Men
Soul
Bodies Are Cleansed By Water; The Mind Is Purified By Truth.
Truth
Water
Mind
We Who Are Engaged In The Sacred Cause Of Education Are Entitled To Look Upon All Parents As Having Given Hostages To Our Cause.
Parent
Sacred
Causes
Time Is A Seedfield; In Youth We Sow It With Causes; In After Life We Reap The Harvest Of Effects.
Time
Causes
Youth
Every Hand And Every Hour Should Be Devoted To Rescue The World From Its Insanity Of Guilt, And To Assuage The Pangs Of Human Hearts With Balm And Anodyne. To Pity Distress Is But Human; To Relieve It Is Godlike.
Heart
Hands
Insanity
Much That We Call Evil Is Really Good In Disguises; And We Should Not Quarrel Rashly With Adversities Not Yet Understood, Nor Overlook The Mercies Often Bound Up In Them.
Adversity
Evil
Mercy
Great Books Are Written For Christianity Much Oftener Than Great Deeds Are Done For It. City Libraries Tell Us Of The Reign Of Jesus Christ But City Streets Tell Us Of The Reign Of Satan.
Jesus
Book
Cities
Benevolence Is A World Of Itself -- A World Which Mankind, As Yet, Have Hardly Begun To Explore. We Have, As It Were, Only Skirted Along Its Coasts For A Few Leagues, Without Penetrating The Recesses, Or Gathering The Riches Of Its Vast Interior.
League
Riches
Gathering
As An Apple Is Not In Any Proper Sense An Apple Until It Is Ripe, So A Human Being Is Not In Any Proper Sense A Human Being Until He Is Educated.
Education
Apples
Educated
Education Is A Capital To The Poor Man, And An Interest To The Rich Man.
Education
Men
Rich
A House Without Books Is Like A Room Without Windows. No Man Has A Right To Bring Up His Children Without Surrounding Them With Books, If He Has The Means To Buy Them.
Children
Book
Mean
Finally, In Regard To Those Who Possess The Largest Shares In The Stock Of Worldly Goods, Could There, In Your Opinion, Be Any Police So Vigilant And Effetive, For The Protections Of All The Rights Of Person, Property And Character, As Such A Sound And Comprehensive Education And Training, As Our System Of Common Schools Could Be Made To Impart; And Would Not The Payment Of A Sufficient Tax To Make Such Education And Training Universal, Be The Cheapest Means Of Self-protection And Insurance?
Education
School
Character
Do Not Think Of Knocking Out Another Person's Brains Because He Differs In Opinion From You. It Would Be As Rational To Knock Yourself On The Head Because You Differ From Yourself Ten Years Ago.
Thinking
Years
Brain
Ignorance Breeds Monsters To Fill Up The Vacancies Of The Soul That Are Unoccupied By The Verities Of Knowledge.
Ignorance
Soul
Ignorant
Had I The Power, I Would Scatter Libraries Over The Whole Land As The Sower Sows His Wheatfield.
Book
Wheat Fields
Land
Temptation Is A Fearful Word. It Indicates The Beginning Of A Possible Series Of Infinite Evils. It Is The Ringing Of An Alarm Bell, Whose Melancholy Sounds May Reverberate Through Eternity. Like The Sudden, Sharp Cry Of "fire!" Under Our Windows By Night, It Should Rouse Us To Instantaneous Action, And Brace Every Muscle To Its Highest Tension.
Night
Fire
Evil
The Living Soul Of Man, Once Conscious Of Its Power, Cannot Be Quelled.
Men
Soul
Conscious
The Devil Tempts Men Through Their Ambition, Their Cupidity, Or Their Appetite, Until He Comes To The Profane Swearer, Whom He Clutches Without Any Reward.
Ambition
Men
Devil
There Is Not A Good Work Which The Hand Of Man Has Ever Undertaken, Which His Heart Has Ever Conceived, Which Does Not Require A Good Education For Its Helper.
Heart
Men
Hands
Education Then, Beyond All Other Devices Of Human Origin, Is The Great Equalizer Of The Conditions Of Men, The Balance-wheel Of The Social Machinery.
Education
Men
Balance
To Know The Machine One Must Know Where Each Part Belongs, And What Its Office Is.
Office
Machines
Knows
Habit Is A Cable; We Weave A Thread Of It Each Day, And At Last We Cannot Break It.
Motivational
Positive
Happiness
Where A Love Of Natural Beauty Has Been Cultivated, All Nature Becomes A Stupendous Gallery, As Much Superior In Form And In Coloring To The Choicest Collections Of Human Art, As The Heavens Are Broader And Loftier Than The Louvre Or The Vatican.
Art
Heaven
Natural
Let Us Not Be Content To Wait And See What Will Happen, But Give Us The Determination To Make The Right Things Happen.
Inspirational
Motivational
Success
There Is A Deeper Pleasure In Following Truth To The Scaffold Or The Cross, Than In Joining The Multitudinous Retinue, And Mingling Our Shouts With Theirs, When Victorious Error Celebrates Its Triumphs.
Truth
Errors
Triumph
Just In Proportion As A Man Becomes Good, Divine, Christ-like, He Passes Out Of The Region Of Theorizing, Of System-building, And Hireling Service, Into The Region Of Beneficent Activities. It Is Well To Think Well. It Is Divine To Act Well.
Men
Thinking
Christ
Superiority To Circumstances Is One Of The Most Prominent Characteristics Of Great Men.
Men
Characteristics
Circumstances
Every Addition To True Knowledge Is An Addition To Human Power.
Knowledge
Humans
Human Power
Ignorance Has Been Well Represented Under The Similitude Of A Dungeon, Where, Though It Is Full Of Life, Yet Darkness And Silence Reign. But In Society The Bars And Locks Have Been Broken; The Dungeon Itself Is Demolished; The Prisoners Are Out; They Are In The Midst Of Us. We Have No Security But To Teach And Renovate Them.
Ignorance
Broken
Silence
It Is More Difficult, And It Calls For Higher Energies Of Soul, To Live A Martyr Than To Die One.
Soul
Energy
Martyr
Enslave A Man And You Destroy His Ambition, His Enterprise, His Capacity. In The Constitution Of Human Nature, The Desire Of Bettering One's Condition Is The Mainspring Of Effort. The First Touch Of Slavery Snaps This Spring.
Spring
Ambition
Men
In Such A World As Ours The Idle Man Is Not So Much A Biped As A Bivalve; And The Wealth Which Breeds Idleness, Of Which The English Peerage Is An Example, And Of Which We Are Beginning To Abound In Specimens In This Country, Is Only A Sort Of Human Oyster Bed, Where Heirs And Heiresses Are Planted, To Spend A Contemptible Life Of Slothfulness In Growing Plump And Succulent For The Grave-worms' Banquet.
Country
Men
Oysters
Praise Begets Emulation,--a Goodly Seed To Sow Among Youthful Students.
Emulation
Students
Praise
No Combatants Are So Unequally Matched As When One Is Shackled With Error, While The Other Rejoices In The Self-demonstrability Of Truth.
Errors
Self
Rejoice
Some Languages Are Musical In Themselves, So That It Is Pleasant To Hear Any One Read Or Converse In Them, Even Though We Do Not Understand A Word That We Hear.... Others Are Full Of Growling, Snarling, Hissing Sounds, As Though Wild Beasts And Serpents Had First Taught The People To Speak.
People
Musical
Firsts
In Trying To Teach Children A Great Deal In A Short Time, They Are Treated Not As Though The Race They Were To Run Was For Life, But Simply A Three-mile Heat.
Running
Children
Race
Doing Nothing For Others Is The Undoing Of One's Self. We Must Be Purposely Kind And Generous, Or We Miss The Best Part Of Existence. The Heart That Goes Out Of Itself, Gets Large And Full Of Joy. This Is The Great Secret Of The Inner Life. We Do Ourselves The Most Good Doing Something For Others.
Heart
Helping Others
Self
False Conclusions Which Have Been Reasoned Out Are Infinitely Worse Than Blind Impulse.
Blind
Impulse
Conclusion
Reproof Is A Medicine, Like Mercury Or Opium; If It Be Improperly Administered, It Will Do Harm Instead Of Good.
Medicine
Criticism
Mercury
Give Me A House Furnished With Books Rather Than Furniture! Both, If You Can, But Books At Any Rate!
Book
Giving
House
Avoid Witticisms At The Expense Of Others.
Tongue
Expenses
You Need Not Tell All The Truth, Unless To Those Who Have A Right To Know It; But Let All You Tell Be Truth.
Truth
Needs
Knows
Love Not Only Occupies The Higher Lobes Of The Brain, But Crowds Out The Lower To Make Room For Its Expansion.
Love
Brain
Expansion
Let The Common School Be Expanded To Its Capabilities, Let It Be Worked With The Efficiency Of Which It Is Susceptible, And Nine Tenths Of The Crimes In The Penal Code Would Become Obsolete; The Long Catalogue Of Human Ills Would Be Abridged; Men Would Walk More Safely By Day; Every Pillow Would Be More Inviolate By Night; Property, Life, And Character Held By A Stronger Tenure; All Rational Hopes Respecting The Future Brightened.
School
Character
Night
Biography, Especially Of The Great And Good, Who Have Risen By Their Own Exertions To Eminence And Usefulness, Is An Inspiring And Ennobling Study. Its Direct Tendency Is To Reproduce The Excellence It Records.
Excellence
Records
Biographies
On Entering This World Our Starting-point Is Ignorance. None, However, But Idiots Remain There.
Ignorance
World
Entering
Education Alone Can Conduct Us To That Enjoyment Which Is, At Once, Best In Quality And Infinite In Quantity.
Education
Quality
Infinite
An Ignorant Man Is Always Able To Say Yes Or No Immediately To Any Proposition. To A Wise Man, Comparatively Few Things Can Be Propounded Which Do Not Require A Response With Qualifications, With Discriminations, With Proportion.
Wise
Wisdom
Men
Habit Can Overcome Anything But Instinct, And Can Greatly Modify Even That.
Overcoming
Habit
Instinct
The Highest Service We Can Perform For Others Is To Help Them Help Themselves.
Leadership
Helping Others
Self Help
In Vain Do They Talk Of Happiness Who Never Subdued An Impulse In Obedience To A Principle. He Who Never Sacrificed A Present To A Future Good, Or A Personal To A General One, Can Speak Of Happiness Only As The Blind Speak Of Color.
Inspirational
Happiness
Color
Both Poetry And Philosophy Are Prodigal Of Eulogy Over The Mind Which Ransoms Itself By Its Own Energy From A Captivity To Custom, Which Breaks The Common Bounds Of Empire, And Cuts A Simplon Over Mountains Of Difficulty For Its Own Purposes, Whether Of Good Or Of Evil.
Philosophy
Cutting
Evil
If There Is Anything For Which I Would Go Back To Childhood, And Live This Weary Life Over Again, It Is For The Burning, Exalting, Transporting Thrill And Ecstasy With Which The Young Faculties Hold Their Earliest Communion With Knowledge.
Knowledge
Childhood
Burning
He Who Cannot Resist Temptation Is Not A Man. Whoever Yields To Temptation Debases Himself With A Debasement From Which He Can Never Arise.
Men
Yield
Temptation
Under The Sublime Law Of Progress, The Present Outgrows The Past. The Great Heart Of Humanity Is Heaving With The Hopes Of A Brighter Day. All The Higher Instincts Of Our Nature Prophesy Its Approach; And The Best Intellects Of The Race Are Struggling To Turn That Prophecy Into Fulfilment.
Struggle
Heart
Past
It Is Far More Difficult, I Assure You, To Live For The Truth Than To Die For It.
Difficult
Dies
In What Pagan Nation Was Moloch Ever Propitiated By Such An Unbroken And Swift-moving Procession Of Victims As Are Offered To This Moloch Of Christendom, Intemperance.
Moving
Unbroken
Pagan
Those Who Exert The First Influence Upon The Mind Have The Greatest Power.
Mind
Firsts
Influence
Love--that Divine Fire Which Was Made To Light And Warm The Temple Of Home--sometimes Burns At Unholy Altars.
Love
Home
Fire
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