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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.

-Henry Ward Beecher

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If One Should Give

Henry Ward Beecher

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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.

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There Is An Army Of Waiters In This World.

Not That Which Men Do Worthily, But That Which They Do Successfully, Is What History Makes Haste To Record.

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

A Man Should Fear When He Only Enjoys What Good He Does Publicly. Is It Not The Publicity Rather Than The Charity He Loves? Is It Not Vanity, Rather Than Benevolence, That Gives Such Charities?

Some People Are Proud Of Their Humility.

It Will Not Do To Be Saints At Meeting And Sinners Everywhere Else.

Laws Are Not Masters But Servants, And He Rules Them Who Obey Them.

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

The Conditions Of City Life May Be Made Healthy, So Far As The Physical Constitution Is Concerned; But There Is Connected With The Business Of The City So Much Competition, So Much Rivalry, So Much Necessity For Industry, That I Think It Is A Perpetual, Chronic, Wholesale Violation Of Natural Law. There Are Ten Men That Can Succeed In The Country, Where There Is One That Can Succeed In The City.

The Strength Of A Man Consists In Finding Out The Way God Is Going, And Going That Way.

The Elect, Those Who Will; The Non-elect, Those Who Won't.

There Have Been Many Men Who Left Behind Them That Which Hundreds Of Years Have Not Worn Out. The Earth Has Socrates And Plato To This Day. The World Is Richer Yet By Moses And The Old Prophets Than By The Wisest Statesmen. We Are Indebted To The Past. We Stand In The Greatness Of Ages That Are Gone Rather Than In That Of Our Own. But Of How Many Of Us Shall It Be Said That, Being Dead, We Yet Speak?

If A Man Cannot Be A Christian In The Place Where He Is, He Cannot Be A Christian Anywhere.

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 House Built On Sand Is, In Fair Weather, Just As Good As If Builded On A Rock. A Cobweb Is As Good As The Mightiest Chain Cable When There Is No Strain On It. It Is Trial That Proves One Thing Weak And Another Strong.

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.

We Never Know How Much One Loves Till We Know How Much He Is Willing To Endure And Suffer For Us; And It Is The Suffering Element That Measures Love. The Characters That Are Great Must, Of Necessity, Be Characters That Shall Be Willing, Patient And Strong To Endure For Others. To Hold Our Nature In The Willing Service Of Another Is The Divine Idea Of Manhood, Of The Human Character.

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

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.

There Is Nothing That A New-englander So Nearly Worships As An Argument.

In The Early Ages Men Ruled By Strength; Now They Rule By Brain, And So Long As There Is Only One Man In The World Who Can Think And Plan, He Will Stand Head And Shoulders Above Him Who Cannot.

It Was The German Schoolhouse Which Destroyed Napoleon Iii. France, Since Then, Is Making Monster Cannon And Drilling Soldiers Still, But She Is Also Building Schoolhouses. As Long As War Is Possible, Anything That Makes Better Soldiers People Want.

The Meanest, Most Contemptible Kind Of Praise Is That Which First Speaks Well Of A Man, And Then Qualifies It With A But.

There Are Materials Enough In Every Man's Mind To Make A Hell There.

While A Man Is Stringing A Harp, He Tries The Strings, Not For Music, But For Construction. When It Is Finished It Shall Be Played For Melodies. God Is Fashioning The Human Heart For Future Joy. He Only Sounds A String Here And There To See How Far His Work Has Progressed.

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

A Man Is A Fool Who Sits Looking Backward From Himself In The Past. Ah, What Shallow, Vain Conceit There Is In Man! Forget The Things That Are Behind. That Is Not Where You Live. Your Roots Are Not There. They Are In The Present; And You Should Reach Up Into The Other Life.

That Which Distinguishes Man From The Brute Is His Power, In Dealing With Nature, To Milk Her Laws, And Make Them Give Forth Their Bounty.

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

Oftentimes Great And Open Temptations Are The Most Harmless Because They Come With Banners Flying And Bands Playing And All The Munitions Of War In Full View, So That We Know We Are In The Midst Of Enemies That Mean Us Damage, And We Get Ready To Meet And Resist Them. Our Peculiar Dangers Are Those That Surprise Us And Work Treachery In Our Fort.

Wealth Held By A Class And Used Ambitiously Becomes As Despotic As An Absolute Monarchy, And Has In Its Hands Manners, Customs, Laws, Institutions, And Governments Themselves.

Business Men Are To Be Pitied Who Do Not Recognize The Fact That The Largest Side Of Their Secular Business Is Benevolence. ... No Man Ever Manages A Legitimate Business In This Life Without Doing Indirectly Far More For Other Men Than He Is Trying To Do For Himself.

It Is Not Desirable That We Should Live As In The Constant Atmosphere And Presence Of Death; That Would Unfit Us For Life; But It Is Well For Us, Now And Then, To Talk With Death As Friend Talketh With Friend, And To Bathe In The Strange Seas, And To Anticipate The Experiences Of That Land To Which It Will Lead Us. These Forethinkings Are Meant, Not To Make Us Discontented With Life, But To Bring Us Back With More Strength, And A Nobler Purpose In Living.

The Bibliophile Is The Master Of His Books, The Bibliomaniac Their Slave.

A Man Without Ambition Is Worse Than Dough That Has No Yeast In It To Raise It.

Well-married, A Man Is Winged: Ill-matched, He Is Shackled.

Poverty Is Very Good In Poems But Very Bad In The House; Very Good In Maxims And Sermons But Very Bad In Practical Life.

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.

He Who Hunts For Flowers Will Finds Flowers; And He Who Loves Weeds Will Find Weeds.

Maple-trees Are The Cows Of Trees (spring-milked).

Home Should Be The Center Of Joy, Equatorial And Tropical.

If One Asks Me The Meaning Of Our Flag, I Say To Him: It Means All That The Constitution Of Our People, Organizing For Justice, For Liberty, And For Happiness, Meant. Our Flag Carries American Ideas, American History And American Feelings. This American Flag Was The Safeguard Of Liberty. It Was An Ordinance Of Liberty By The People, For The People. That It Meant, That It Means, And, By The Blessing Of God, That It Shall Mean To The End Of Time!

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

Laws And Institutions, Like Clocks, Must Occasionally Be Cleaned, Wound Up, And Set To True Time.

Truths Are First Clouds; Then Rain, Then Harvest And Food.

Think Of A Man In A Chronic State Of Anger!

I Beseech You To Correct One Fault - Severe Speech Of Others; Never Speak Evil Of Any Man, No Matter What The Facts May Be.

Wealth In Activity--capital With All Its Friction--is Far Safer Than Invested Wealth Lying Dead.

God Is The One Great Employer, Thinker, Planner, Supervisor.

We Steal If We Touch Tomorrow. It Is God's.

Live In The Moment

Do Not Give, As Many Rich Men Do, Like A Hen That Lays Her Eggs ...and Then Cackles.

The Most Miserable Pettifogging In The World Is That Of A Man In The Court Of His Own Consciences.

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.

You Are Not Called To Be A Canary In A Cage. You Are Called To Be An Eagle, And To Fly Sun To Sun, Over Continents.

The Methods By Which Men Have Met And Conquered Trouble, Or Been Slain By It, Are The Same In Every Age.

Yea, Though The Breath Of Disappointment Should Chill The Sanguine Heart, Speedily Gloweth It Again, Warmed By The Live Embers Of Hope.

The Soul Is Often Hungrier Than The Body And No Shop Can Sell It Food.

Tyrannies Are Overthrown By Ideas. Armies Are Defeated By Ideas. Nations, And Time Itself, Are Overmatched By Ideas.

In The Family, Happiness Is In The Ratio In Which Each Is Serving The Others, Seeking One Another's Good, And Bearing One Another's Burdens.

October Is The Opal Month Of The Year. It Is The Month Of Glory, Of Ripeness. It Is The Picture-month.

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

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

The Mere Wit Is Only A Human Bauble. He Is To Life What Bells Are To Horses-not Expected To Draw The Load, But Only To Jingle While The Horses Draw.

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

The Blossom Cannot Tell What Becomes Of Its Odor, And No Person Can Tell What Becomes Of His Or Her Influence And Example.

Anxiety In Human Life Is What Squeaking And Grinding Are In Machinery That Is Not Oiled. In Life, Trust Is The Oil.

Most Of The Debts Of Europe Represent Condensed Drops Of Blood.

Man Is At The Bottom An Animal, Midway A Citizen, And At The Top Divine. But The Climate Of This World Is Such That Few Ripen At The Top.

Every Man Should Be Born Again On The First Day Of January. Start With A Fresh Page. Take Up One Hole More In The Buckle If Necessary, Or Let Down One, According To Circumstances; But On The First Of January Let Every Man Gird Himself Once More, With His Face To The Front, And Take No Interest In The Things That Were And Are Past.

That Is True Culture Which Helps Us To Work For The Social Betterment Of All.

Badgered, Snubbed And Scolded On The One Hand; Petted, Flattered And Indulged On The Other-it Is Astonishing How Many Children Work Their Way Up To An Honest Manhood In Spite Of Parents And Friends. Human Nature Has An Element Of Great Toughness In It.

Coming To The Bible Through Commentaries Is Much Like Looking At A Landscape Through Garret Windows, Over Which Generations Of Unmolested Spiders Have Spun Their Webs.

Children Are The Hands By Which We Take Hold Of Heaven.

The Bible Is Like A Telescope. If A Man Looks Through His Telescope, Then He Sees Worlds Beyond; But, If He Looks At His Telescope, Then He Does Not See Anything But That.

Next To The Pastoral Came The Agricultural Life. When You Add To That The Manufacturing Phase Of Development, Society Begins To Fill Out, And Needs But Wings To Fly, And Commerce Is Its Wings.

The Things That Hurt Us Teach Us.

Learning, To Be Of Much Use, Must Have A Tendency To Spread Itself Among The Common People.

There Is No Faculty Of The Human Soul So Persistent And Universal As That Of Hatred.

The Aster Has Not Wasted Spring And Summer Because It Has Not Blossomed. It Has Been All The Time Preparing For What Is To Follow, And In Autumn It Is The Glory Of The Field, And Only The Frost Lays It Low. So There Are Many People Who Must Live Forty Or Fifty Years, And Have The Crude Sap Of Their Natural Dispositions Changed And Sweetened Before The Blossoming Time Can Come; But Their Lives Have Not Been Wasted.

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.

The Elms Of New England! They Are As Much A Part Of Her Beauty As The Columns Of The Parthenon Were The Glory Of Its Architecture.

If We Are Like Christ, We Shall Seek, Not To Absorb, But To Reflect The Light Which Falls Upon Others, And Thus We Shall Become Pure And Spotless.

Socially We Are Woven Into The Fabric Of Society, Where Every Man Is Like One Thread In A Piece Of Cloth. No Single Thread Has A Right To Say, "i Will Stay Here No Longer," And Draw Out. No Man Has A Right To Make A Hole In The Well-woven Fabric Of Society.

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

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

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

The Advertisements In A Newspaper Are More Full Knowledge In Respect To What Is Going On In A State Or Community Than The Editorial Columns Are.

Mountains Of Gold Would Not Seduce Some Men, Yet Flattery Would Break Them Down.

I Think You Might Dispense With Half Your Doctors If You Would Only Consult Dr. Sun More.

Let Every Man Come To God In His Own Way.

A Practical, Matter-of-fact Man Is Like A Wagon Without Springs: Every Single Pebble On The Road Jolts Him; But A Man With Imagination Has Springs That Break The Jar And Jolt.

The Worst Prison Is Not Of Stone. It Is Of A Throbbing Heart, Outraged By An Infamous Life.

The Dog Is The God Of Frolic.

God Asks No Man Whether He Will Accept Life. That Is Not The Choice. You Must Take It. The Only Choice Is How.

The Morbid States Of Health, The Irritableness Of Disposition Arising From Unstrung Nerves, The Impatience, The Crossness, The Fault-finding Of Men, Who, Full Of Morbid Influences, Are Unhappy Themselves, And Throw The Cloud Of Their Troubles Like A Dark Shadow Upon Others, Teach Us What Eminent Duty There Is In Health.

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.

God Pardons Like A Mother, Who Kisses The Offense Into Everlasting Forgiveness.

Tears Are Often The Telescope By Which Men See Far Into Heaven.

Life Is Full Of Amusement To An Amusing Man.

Nowhere Else Can One Find So Miscellaneous, So Various, An Amount Of Knowledge As Is Contained In A Good Newspaper.

Ignorance Is The Womb Of Monsters.

The Call To Religion Is Not A Call To Be Better Than Your Fellows, But To Be Better Than Yourself. Religion Is Relative To The Individual.

The Last Person One Wants To Be Is Themselves. Sadly, That Is The Best Person To Be.

As The Cream Abandons The Milk From Which It Took Its Life, And Rises To The Top And Rides There, So Men, Because They Are Richer Than Those Around About Them, Separate Themselves, And All Mankind Below Them They Regard As Skim Milk.

You Have Seen A Ship Out On The Bay, Swinging With The Tide, And Seeming As If It Would Follow It; And Yet It Cannot, For Down Beneath The Water It Is Anchored. So Many A Soul Sways Toward Heaven, But Cannot Ascend Thither, Because It Is Anchored To Some Secret Sin.

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.

When God Thought Of Mother, He Must Have Laughed With Satisfaction, And Framed It Quickly - So Rich, So Deep, So Divine, So Full Of Soul, Power, And Beauty, Was The Conception.

Wherever You Have Seen God Pass, Mark That Spot, And Go And Sit In That Window Again.

What We Call Wisdom Is The Result Of All The Wisdom Of Past Ages.

A Man Who Cannot Get Angry Is Like A Stream That Cannot Overflow, That Is Always Turbid. Sometimes Indignation Is As Good As A Thunderstorm In Summer, Clearing And Cooling The Air.

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.

It Is Part And Parcel Of Every Man's Life To Develop Beauty In Himself. All Perfect Things Have In Them An Element Of Beauty.

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.

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

We Go To The Grave Of A Friend Saying, "a Man Is Dead," But Angels Throng About Him Saying, "a Man Is Born."

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

Love, In This World, Is Like A Seed Taken From The Tropics, And Planted Where The Winter Comes Too Soon; And It Cannot Spread Itself In Flower-clusters And Wide-twining Vines, So That The Whole Air Is Filled With The Perfume Thereof. But There Is To Be Another Summer For It Yet. Care For The Root Now, And God Will Care For The Top By And By.

If There's A Job To Be Done, I Always Ask The Busiest Man In My Parish To Take It On And It Gets Done.

The Monkey Is An Organized Sarcasm Upon The Human Race.

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

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.

The Tree Is But A Huge Boquet.

His Nature Is Such That Our Often Coming Does Not Tire Him. The Whole Burden Of The Whole Life Of Every Man May Be Rolled On To God And Not Weary Him, Though It Has Wearied Man.

There Is No Man That Lives Who Does Not Need To Be Drilled, Disciplined, And Developed Into Something Higher And Nobler And Better Than He Is By Nature. Life Is One Prolonged Birth.

Compassion Will Cure More Sins Than Condemnation.

All Words Are Pegs To Hang Ideas On.

Theology Is But A Science Of Applied To God. As Schools Change Theology Must Necessarily Change. Truth Is Everlasting, But Our Ideas Of Truth Are Not. Theology Is But Our Ideas Of Truth Classified And Arranged.

Storms Purify The Atmosphere.

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.

When Our Children Die, We Drop Them Into The Unknown, Shuddering With Fear. We Know That They Go Out From Us, And We Stand, And Pity, And Wonder.

Nothing Can Be Further Apart Than True Humility And Servility.

The Babe At First Feeds Upon The Mother's Bosom, But It Is Always On Her Heart.

Are They Dead That Yet Speak Louder Than We Can Speak, And A More Universal Language? Are They Dead That Yet Act? Are They Dead That Yet Move Upon Society And Inspire The People With Nobler Motives And More Heroic Patriotism?

No Man Rides So High And In Such Good Company As The Man That Allies Himself To A Truth.

God Wishes To Exhaust All Means Of Kindness Before His Hand Takes Hold On Justice.

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

We Should Not Judge People By Their Peak Of Excellence; But By The Distance They Have Traveled From The Point Where They Started.

Difficulties Are God's Errands; And When We Are Sent Upon Them, We Should Esteem It A Proof Of God's Confidence.

Customs Represent The Experience Of Mankind.

Gratitude Is The Fairest Blossom Which Springs From The Soul.

Private Opinion Is Weak, But Public Opinion Is Almost Omnipotent.

There Is A Dew In One Flower And Not In Another, Because One Opens In Cup And Takes It In, While The Other Closes Itself, And The Drops Run Off. God Rains His Goodness And Mercy As Widespread As The Dew, And If We Lack Them, It Is Because We Will Not Open Our Hearts To Receive Them.

Beauty May Be Said To Be God's Trademark In Creation.

Blessed Are The Happiness-makers! Blessed Are They That Take Away Attritions, That Remove Friction, That Make The Courses Of Life Smooth, And The Intercourse Of Men Gentle!

The Things Required For Prosperous Labor, Prosperous Manufactures, And Prosperous Commerce Are Three. First, Liberty; Second, Liberty; Third, Liberty.

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

Discover What You Are.

God Is A Being Who Gives Everything But Punishment In Over Measure.

Refinement That Carries Us Away From Our Fellow-men Is Not God's Refinement.

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.

Every Man Is Full Of Music; But It Is Not Every Man That Knows How To Bring It Out.

Earthly Love Is A Brief And Penurious Stream, Which Only Flows In Spring, With A Long Summer Drought. The Change From A Burning Desert, Treeless, Springless, Drear, To Green Fields And Blooming Orchards In June, Is Slight In Comparison With That From The Desert Of This World's Affection To The Garden Of God, Where There Is Perpetual, Tropical Luxuriance Of Blessed Love.

Genius Unexerted Is No More Genius Than A Bushel Of Acorns Is A Forest Of Oaks.

Reason Can Tell How Love Affects Us, But Cannot Tell What Love Is.

Where Is Human Nature So Weak As In The Bookstore?

Never Forget What A Man Has Said To You When He Was Angry. If He Has Charged You With Anything, You Had Better Look It Up.

God's Sovereignty Is Not In His Right Hand; God's Sovereignty Is Not In His Intellect; God's Sovereignty Is In His Love.

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.

It Is One Of The Severest Tests Of Friendship To Tell Your Friend His Faults. So To Love A Man That You Cannot Bear To See A Stain Upon Him, And To Speak Painful Truth Through Loving Words, That Is Friendship.

There Is No Liberty To Men Who Know Not How To Govern Themselves.

Everything That Happens In This World Is A Part Of A Great Plan Of God Running Through All Time.

Evil Men Of Every Degree Will Use You, Flatter You, Lead You On Until You Are Useless; Then, If The Virtuous Do Not Pity You, Or God Compassionate, You Are Without A Friend In The Universe.

A Book Is A Garden, An Orchard, A Storehouse, A Party, A Mentor, A Teacher, A Guidepost, A Counsellor.

Indeed, Unless A Man Can Link His Written Thoughts With The Everlasting Wants Of Men, So That They Shall Draw More From Them As Wells, There Is No More Immortality To The Thoughts And Feelings Of The Soul Than To The Muscles And Bones.

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.

Go On Your Knees Before God. Bring All Your Idols; Bring Self-will, And Pride, And Every Evil Lust Before Him, And Give Them Up. Devote Yourself, Heart And Soul, To His Will; And See If You Do Not "know Of The Doctrine.

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

A Grindstone That Had Not Grit In It, How Long Would It Take To Sharpen An Ax? And Affairs That Had Not Grit In Them, How Long Would They Take To Make A Man?

I Read For Three Things; First, To Know What The World Has Done The Last Twenty-four Hours, And Is About To Do Today; Second, For The Knowledge That I Specially Want In My Work; And Third, For What Will Bring My Mind Into A Proper Mood.

A Man Never Has Good Luck Who Has A Bad Wife.

As Flowers Always Wear Their Own Colors And Give Forth Their Own Fragrance Every Day Alike, So Should Christians Maintain Their Character At All Times And Under All Circumstances.

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

There Are Three Schoolmasters For Everybody That Will Employ Them - The Senses, Intelligent Companions, And Books.

No Man Knows What He Will Do Till The Right Temptation Comes.

We Not Only Live Among Men, But There Are Airy Hosts, Blessed Spectators, Sympathetic Lookers-on, That See And Know And Appreciate Our Thoughts And Feelings And Acts.

There Is A Power In The Human Mind ... To See Things As They Are ... But There Is Equally A Power To See Things As They Might Be.

A Very Common Flower Adds Generosity To Beauty. It Gives Joy To The Poor, To The Rude, And To The Multitudes Who Could Have No Flowers Were Nature To Charge A Price For Her Blossoms.

I Would Much Rather Fight Pride Than Vanity, Because Pride Has A Stand-up Way Of Fighting. You Know Where It Is. It Throws Its Black Shadow On You, And You Are Not At A Loss Where To Strike. But Vanity Is That Delusive, That Insectiferous, That Multiplied Feeling, And Men That Fight Vanities Are Like Men That Fight Midges And Butterflies. It Is Easier To Chase Them Than To Hit Them.

It Is Not When The Cable Lies Coiled Up On The Deck That You Know How Strong Or How Weak It Is; It Is When It Is Put To The Test.

Scepticism Is A Barren Coast, Without A Harbor Or Lighthouse.

There Is A Patience That Cackles. There Are A Great Many Virtues That Are Hen-like. They Are Virtue, To Be Sure; But Everybody In The Neighborhood Has To Know About Them.

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.

There Is No Part Of Government Which Cannot Better Suffer Derangement Than The Ballot. If You Strike The Ballot With Disease, It Is Heart Disease.

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.

I Know It Is More Agreeable To Walk Upon Carpets Than To Lie Upon Dungeon Floors, I Know It Is Pleasant To Have All The Comforts And Luxuries Of Civilization; But He Who Cares Only For These Things Is Worth No More Than A Butterfly, Contented And Thoughtless, Upon A Morning Flower; And Who Ever Thought Of Rearing A Tombstone To A Last Summer's Butterfly?

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

Nothing Dies So Hard, Or Rallies So Often As Intolerance.

A Dull Axe Never Loves Grindstones, But A Keen Workman Does; And He Puts His Tool On Them In Order That It May Be Sharp. And Men Do Not Like Grinding; But They Are Dull For The Purposes Which God Designs To Work Out With Them, And Therefore He Is Grinding Them.

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.

No Matter What Looms Ahead, If You Can Eat Today, Enjoy The Sunlight Today, Mix Good Cheer With Friends Today, Enjoy It And Bless God For It. Do Not Look Back On Happiness -- Or Dream Of It In The Future. You Are Only Sure Of Today; Do Not Let Yourself Be Cheated Out Of It.

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

God Made Every Man To Have Power To Be Mightier Than The Events Round About Him; To Hold By His Firm Will The Reigns By Which All Things Are Guided.

There Is Tonic In The Things That Men Do Not Love To Hear. Free Speech Is To A Great People What The Winds Are To Oceans ... And Where Free Speech Is Stopped Miasma Is Bred, And Death Comes Fast.

A Gamester, As Such, Is The Cool, Calculating, Essential Spirit Of Concentrated, Avaricious Selfishness.

There Is Nothing That Makes More Cowards And Feeble Men Than Public Opinion.

The First Merit Of Pictures Is The Effect Which They Can Produce Upon The Mind; — And The First Step Of A Sensible Man Should Be To Receive Involuntary Effects From Them. Pleasure And Inspiration First, Analysis Afterward.

Fear Is The Soul's Signal For Rallying.

The Church Is Not A Gallery For The Exhibition Of Eminent Christians, But A School For The Education Of Imperfect Ones.

A Babe Is A Mother's Anchor.

Troubles Are Often The Tools By Which God Fashions Us For Better Things.

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