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If We Would Have Anything Of Benefit, We Must Earn It, And Earning It Become Shrewd, Inventive, Ingenious, Active, Enterprising.
-Henry Ward Beecher
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If We Would Have

Henry Ward Beecher
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If We Would Have Anything Of Benefit, We Must Earn It, And Earning It Become Shrewd, Inventive, Ingenious, Active, Enterprising.

Understanding the Quote: "if we would have anything of benefit, we must earn it, and..."

This quote by Henry Ward Beecher reflects deeply on the theme of work. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Work, Earning It, Effectiveness, 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 Henry Ward Beecher 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 Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher is celebrated for insightful thoughts on work and earning it. 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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Topic
Work
Earning It
Effectiveness
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Thou, Everlasting Strength, Hast Set Thyself Forth To Bear Our Burdens. May We Bear Thy Cross, And Bearing That; Find There Is Nothing Else To Bear; And Touching That Cross, Find That Instead Of Taking Away Our Strength, It Adds Thereto. Give Us Faith For Darkness, For Trouble, For Sorrow, For Bereavement, For Disappointment; Give Us A Faith That Will Abide Though The Earth Itself Should Pass Away--a Faith For Living, A Faith For Dying.
Disappointment
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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.
Greatness
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There Are Three Schoolmasters For Everybody That Will Employ Them - The Senses, Intelligent Companions, And Books.
Book
School
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When A Man Sells Eleven Ounces For Twelve, He Makes A Compact With The Devil, And Sells Himself For The Value Of An Ounce.
Money
Men
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A Thoughtful Mind, When It Sees A Nation's Flag, Sees Not The Flag Only, But The Nation Itself; And Whatever May Be Its Symbols, Its Insignia, He Reads Chiefly In The Flag The Government, The Principles, The Truths, The History Which Belongs To The Nation That Sets It Forth.
Patriotic
Thoughtful
Government
There Are Apartments In The Soul Which Have A Glorious Outlook; From Whose Windows You Can See Across The River Of Death, And Into The Shining City Beyond; But How Often Are These Neglected For The Lower Ones, Which Have Earthward-looking Windows.
Cities
Rivers
Shining
In The Sacred Precinct Of That Dwelling Where The Despotic Woman Wields The Sceptre Of Fierce Neatness, One Treads As If He Carried His Life In His Hands.
Life
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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.
Success
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When A Church Is Faithless To Its Duties, The Real Church Is Outside Its Walls, In The Community.
Wall
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God Sends Experience To Paint Men's Portraits.
Men
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Trouble Teaches Men How Much There Is In Manhood.
Men
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There Is No Such Thing As White Lies; A Lie Is As Black As A Coalpit, And Twice As Foul.
Lying
White
Black
It Is Not Work That Kills Men; It Is Worry. Worry Is Rust Upon The Blade.
Men
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The Ignorant Classes Are The Dangerous Classes.
War
Class
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Watch Lest Prosperity Destroy Generosity.
Generosity
Watches
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Troubles Are Often The Tools By Which God Fashions Us For Better Things.
Inspirational
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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.
Community
States
Newspapers
If Christ Is Not Divine, Every Impulse Of The Christian World Falls To A Lower Octave, And Light And Love And Hope Decline.
Christian
Fall
Light
The Elect, Those Who Will; The Non-elect, Those Who Won't.
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.
Children
Hands
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A Week Filled Up With Selfishness, And The Sabbath Stuffed Full Of Religious Exercises, Will Make A Good Pharisee, But A Poor Christian. There Are Many Persons Who Think Sunday Is A Sponge With Which To Wipe Out The Sins Of The Week. Now, God's Altar Stands From Sunday To Sunday, And The Seventh Day Is No More For Religion Than Any Other. It Is For Rest. The Whole Seven Are For Religion, And One Of Them For Rest.
Christian
Religious
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The World's Battlefields Have Been In The Heart Chiefly; More Heroism Has Been Displayed In The Household And The Closet, Than On The Most Memorable Battlefields In History.
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God Pardons Like A Mother, Who Kisses The Offense Into Everlasting Forgiveness.
Forgiveness
Mother
War
Today Is A Goblet Day. The Whole Heavens Have Been Mingled With Exquisite Skill To A Delicious Flavor, And The Crystal Cup Put To Every Lip. Breathing Is Like Ethereal Drinking. It Is A Luxury Simply To Exist.
Drinking
Breathing
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Religion Is Using Everything For God.
Religion
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.
Men
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You Have Come Into A Hard World. I Know Of Only One Easy Place In It, And That Is The Grave.
Adversity
World
Easy
We Steal If We Touch Tomorrow. It Is God's.
Future
Live In The Moment
Tomorrow
It Is Not Work That Kills Men; It Is Worry. Work Is Healthy; You Can Hard Put More Upon A Man Than He Can Bear. Worry Is Rust Upon The Blade. It Is Not The Revolution That Destroys The Machinery, But The Friction.
Fear
Health
Men
What A Mother Sings To The Cradle Goes All The Way Down To The Coffin.
Mother
War
Being A Mom
A Republican Government In A Hundred Points Is Weaker Than An Autocratic Government; But In This One Point It Is The Strongest That Ever Existed — It Has Educated A Race Of Men That Are Men.
Inspirational
Education
Men
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.
Children
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It Is The Triumph Of Civilization That At Last Communities Have Obtained Such A Mastery Over Natural Laws That They Drive And Control Them. The Winds, The Water, Electricity, All Aliens That In Their Wild Form Were Dangerous, Are Now Controlled By Human Will, And Are Made Useful Servants.
Science
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Fear Is The Soul's Signal For Rallying.
Soul
Rallying
Signals
Every Artist Dips His Brush In His Own Soul, And Paints His Own Nature Into His Pictures.
Inspirational
Life
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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.
Dog
Eye
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It Is One Of The Worst Effects Of Prosperity To Make A Man A Vortex Instead Of A Fountain; So That, Instead Of Throwing Out, He Learns Only To Draw In.
Men
Vortex
Prosperity
Thinking Is Creating With God, As Thinking Is Writing With The Ready Writer; And Worlds Are Only Leaves Turned Over In The Process Of Composition, About His Throne.
Writing
Thinking
Creating
Fear Secretes Acids; But Love And Trust Are Sweet Juices.
Love
Sweet
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Thorough Selfishness Destroys Or Paralyzes Enjoyment. A Heart Made Selfish By The Contest For Wealth Is Like A Citadel Stormed In War, Utterly Shattered.
Selfish
War
Heart
It Takes A Man To Make A Devil; And The Fittest Man For Such A Purpose Is A Snarling, Waspish, Red-hot, Fiery Creditor.
Men
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People May Talk About The Equality Of The Sexes! They Are Not Equal. The Silent Smile Of A Sensible, Loving Woman Will Vanquish Ten Men.
Sex
Women
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Rich Men Are To Bear The Infirmities Of The Poor. Wise Men Are To Bear The Mistakes Of The Ignorant. Strong Men Are To Bear With The Feeble. Cultured People Are To Bear With The Rude And Vulgar. If A Rough And Coarse Man Meets An Ecstatically Fine Man, The Man That Is Highest Up Is To Be The Servant Of The Man That Is Lowest Down.
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Christ Is Risen! There Is Life, Therefore, After Death! His Resurrection Is The Symbol And Pledge Of Universal Resurrection!
Life
Resurrection
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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.
Strength
Strong
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Some Men Think That The Globe Is A Sponge That God Puts Into Their Hands To Squeeze For Their Own Garden Or Flower-pot.
Flower
Men
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There Is A Temperate Zone In The Mind, Between Luxurious Indolence And Exacting Work; And It Is To This Region, Just Between Laziness And Labor, That Summer Reading Belongs.
Summer
Reading
Mind
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.
School
Ideas
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Morality Must Always Precede And Accompany Religion, And Yet Religion Is Much More Than Morality.
Morality
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Men Must Read For Amusement As Well As For Knowledge.
Reading
Men
Amusement
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.
Opportunity
Eagles
Sun
Morality Is Character And Conduct Such As Is Required By The Circle Or Community In Which The Man's Life Happens To Be Placed. It Shows How Much Good Men Require Of Us.
Character
Men
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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.
Past
Men
Roots
Amid The Discords Of This Life, It Is Blessed To Think Of Heaven, Where God Draws After Him An Everlasting Train Of Music; For All Thoughts Are Harmonious And All Feelings Vocal, And So There Is Round About His Feet Eternal Melody.
Blessed
Thinking
Feet
Love Is The Medicine Of All Moral Evil. By It The World Is To Be Cured Of Sin.
Love
Medicine
Evil
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.
Future
Heart
Men
The Rarest Feeling That Ever Lights A Human Face Is The Contentment Of A Loving Soul.
Light
Soul
Feelings
A Man Without Ambition Is Worse Than Dough That Has No Yeast In It To Raise It.
Ambition
Men
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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.
Summer
Flower
Men
Providence Is But Another Name For Natural Law. Natural Law Itself Would Go Out In A Minute If It Were Not For The Divine Thought That Is Behind It.
Law
Names
Natural
The God Of The Bible Is A Moral Monstrosity.
Bible
Religious
Religion
In America There Is Not One Single Element Of Civilization That Is Not Made To Depend, In The End, Upon Public Opinion.
Civilization
America
Public Opinion
Success Is Full Of Promise Till One Gets It, And Then It Seems Like A Nest From Which The Bird Has Flown.
Success
War
Bird
Liberty Is The Soul's Right To Breathe.
Soul
Democracy
Liberty
All The Wide World Is But The Husbandry Of God For The Development Of The One Fruit-man.
Men
World
Fruit
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.
Honesty
Men
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If A Man Cannot Be A Christian In The Place Where He Is, He Cannot Be A Christian Anywhere.
Christian
Men
Ifs
So We Fall Asleep In Jesus. We Have Played Long Enough At The Games Of Life, And At Last We Feel The Approach Of Death. We Are Tired Out, And We Lay Our Heads Back On The Bosom Of Christ, And Quietly Fall Asleep.
Death
Jesus
Fall
In A Great Affliction There Is No Light Either In The Stars Or In The Sun; For When The Inward Light Is Fed With Fragrant Oil; There Can Be No Darkness Though The Sun Should Go Out. But When, Like A Sacred Lamp In The Temple, The Inward Light Is Quenched, There Is No Light Outwardly, Though A Thousand Suns Should Preside In The Heavens.
Stars
Light
Oil
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.
Blood
Skins
Next
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.
Christian
Running
Men
Love Without Faith Is As Bad As Faith Without Love.
Love
Without Love
Despondency Is Ingratitude; Hope Is God's Worship.
Hope
Worship
Despondency
The Bible Stands Alone In Human Literature In Its Elevated Conception Of Manhood, In Character And Conduct.
Bible
Character
Literature
Gratitude Is The Fairest Blossom Which Springs From The Soul.
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Life
Thankful
What We Call Wisdom Is The Result Of All The Wisdom Of Past Ages.
Past
Age
Results
Mirthfulness Is In The Mind And You Cannot Get It Out. It Is Just As Good In Its Place As Conscience Or Veneration.
Mind
Mirth
Veneration
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.
Life
Taken
Woven
God Never Made Anything Else So Beautiful As Man.
Beautiful
Men
Made
Christ Certainly Did Come To Destroy The Law And The Prophets.
Law
Christ
Prophet
Laws And Institutions, Like Clocks, Must Occasionally Be Cleaned, Wound Up, And Set To True Time.
Funny
War
Humor
It Takes Longer For Man To Find Out Man Than Any Other Creature That Is Made.
Men
Understanding
Made
Let Every Man Come To God In His Own Way.
Men
Tolerance
Way
Discover What You Are.
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.
Summer
Memories
Flower
A Man Ought To Carry Himself In The World As An Orange Tree Would If It Could Walk Up And Down In The Garden, Swinging Perfume From Every Little Censer It Holds Up In The Air.
Nature
Men
Garden
The Church Is No More Religion Than The Masonry Of The Aqueduct Is The Water That Flows Through It.
Aqueducts
Water
Church
If We Would Have Anything Of Benefit, We Must Earn It, And Earning It Become Shrewd, Inventive, Ingenious, Active, Enterprising.
Work
Earning It
Effectiveness
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?
Time
War
Men
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.
Children
Wonder
Pity
There Is Nothing That Makes More Cowards And Feeble Men Than Public Opinion.
Men
Coward
Public Opinion
It Is Sometimes Of God's Mercy That Men In The Eager Pursuit Of Worldly Aggrandizement Are Baffled; For They Are Very Like A Train Going Down An Inclined Plane - Putting On The Brake Is Not Pleasant, But It Keeps The Car On The Track.
Disappointment
Track
Car
Customs Represent The Experience Of Mankind.
Mankind
Customs
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.
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Happiness
New Year
The Fear Of Doing Right Is The Grand Treason In Times Of Danger.
Anxiety
Danger
Treason
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.
God
Men
Symbolism
The First Hour Of The Morning Is The Rudder Of The Day.
Time
Morning
Motivation
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.
Style
Mind
Ornaments
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.
Religion
Individual
Fellows
Some Folks Think That Christianity Means A Kind Of Insurance Policy, And That It Has Little To Do With This Life, But That It Is A Very Good Thing When A Man Dies.
Mean
Thinking
Men
We Go To The Grave Of A Friend Saying, "a Man Is Dead," But Angels Throng About Him Saying, "a Man Is Born."
Inspiring
Angel
Men
Selfishness At The Expense Of Others Happiness Is Demonism.
Others Happiness
Selfishness
Expenses
There Is No Faculty Of The Human Soul So Persistent And Universal As That Of Hatred.
Hate
Hatred
Soul
True Politeness Is The Spirit Of Benevolence Showing Itself In A Refined Way. It Is The Expression Of Good-will And Kindness. It Promotes Both Beauty In The Man Who Possesses It, And Happiness In Those Who Are About Him. It Is A Religious Duty, And Should Be A Part Of Religious Training.
Religious
Kindness
Men
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.
Selfish
Exercise
Luxury
There Is So Much That Is Deaf And Dumb In Man, And So Much That Is Paralyzed, So Much That Is Shrunken, That Nothing Short Of A Miraculous Touch Of Re-creation Can Make Them At Death Perfect Beings.
Men
Perfect
Dumb
Joy Is More Divine Than Sorrow, For Joy Is Bread And Sorrow Is Medicine.
Happiness
Medicine
Joy
We Under No Circumstances Know The Appreciate Of Your Parent Till We Develop Into Dad And Mom Ourselves.
Mom
Dad
Appreciate
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.
Ocean
Men
Wind
The Clearest Window That Ever Was Fashioned If It Is Barred By Spiders' Webs, And Hung Over With Carcasses Of Insects, So That The Sunlight Has Forgotten To Find Its Way Through, Of What Use Can It Be? Now, The Church Is God's Window; And If It Is So Obscured By Errors That Its Light Is Darkness, How Great Is That Darkness!
Errors
Light
Darkness
God Plants No Yearning In The Human Soul That He Does Not Intend To Satisfy.
Soul
Desire
Doe
Nothing Can Compare In Beauty, And Wonder, And Admirableness, And Divinity Itself, To The Silent Work In Obscure Dwellings Of Faithful Women Bringing Their Children To Honor And Virtue And Piety.
Beauty
Children
Dwelling
A Bird In A Cage Is Not Half A Bird.
Freedom
Bird
Half
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.
Wise
Spiritual
Sorry
Laughter Is Day, And Sobriety Is Night; A Smile Is The Twilight That Hovers Gently Between Both, More Bewitching Than Either.
Happiness
Smile
Laughter
I Think Half The Troubles For Which Men Go Slouching In Prayer To God Are Caused By Their Intolerable Pride. Many Of Our Cares Are But A Morbid Way Of Looking At Our Privileges. We Let Our Blessings Get Mouldy, And Then Call Them Curses.
Prayer
Pride
Men
There Is An Ugly Kind Of Forgiveness In This World--a Kind Of Hedgehog Forgiveness, Shot Out Like Quills.
Forgiveness
World
Hedgehogs
What I Spent, I Had; What I Kept, I Lost; What I Gave, I Have.
Sports
Motivational Sports
Teammate
No One Can Deal With The Hearts Of Men Unless He Has The Sympathy Which Is Given By Love.
Sympathy
Heart
Men
A Mother Is As Different From Anything Else That God Ever Thought Of, As Can Possibly Be. She Is A Distinct And Individual Creation.
Mother
Different
Creation
Nature Is A Vast Repository Of Manly Enjoyments.
Nature
Enjoyment
Manly
It Is Not The Going Out Of Port, But The Coming In, That Determines The Success Of A Voyage.
Inspirational
Success
Congratulations
The Monkey Is An Organized Sarcasm Upon The Human Race.
Sarcasm
Science
Race
There Is In Youth A Purity Of Character Which, When Once Touched And Defiled, Can Never Be Restored; A Fringe More Delicate Than Frost-work, And Which, When Torn And Broken, Can Never Be Re-embroidered.
Character
Broken
Frost
Repentance May Begin Instantly, But Reformation Often Requires A Sphere Of Years.
Years
May
Spheres
There Is Nothing Which Vanity Does Not Desecrate.
Vanity
Doe
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.
Love
Summer
Flower
Refinement That Carries Us Away From Our Fellow-men Is Not God's Refinement.
Men
Fellow Man
Fellows
To Array A Man's Will Against His Sickness Is The Supreme Art Of Medicine.
Art
War
Get Well Soon
Mirthfulness Is In The Mind, And You Cannot Get It Out. It Is The Blessed Spirit That God Has Set In The Mind To Dust It, To Enliven Its Dark Places, And To Drive Asceticism, Like A Foul Fiend, Out At The Back Door. It Is Just As Good, In Its Place, As Conscience Or Veneration. Praying Can No More Be Made A Substitute For Smiling Than Smiling Can For Praying.
Blessed
Dark
Doors
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.
Life
Men
Funeral
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.
Dull
May
Praying
No Man Is More Cheated Than The Selfish Man.
Cheating
Selfish
Men
There Is No Friendship, No Love, Like That Of The Parent For The Child.
Love
Daughter
Children
It Will Not Do To Be Saints At Meeting And Sinners Everywhere Else.
Hypocrisy
Saint
Meetings
Anxiety In Human Life Is What Squeaking And Grinding Are In Machinery That Is Not Oiled. In Life, Trust Is The Oil.
Funny
Oil
Anxiety
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.
Flower
Garden
Sake
If You Are Idle, You Are On The Road To Ruin; And There Are Few Stopping-places Upon It. It Is Rather A Precipice Than A Road
Stopping
Laziness
Ruins
No One Thing Does Human Life More Need Than A Kind Consideration Of The Faults Of Others. Every One Sins; Everyone Needs Forbearance. Our Own Imperfections Should Teach Us To Be Merciful.
Imperfection
Doe
Needs
A Book Is A Garden; A Book Is An Orchard; A Book Is A Storehouse; A Book Is A Party. It Is Company By The Way; It Is A Counselor; It Is A Multitude Of Counselors.
Party
Book
Garden
Work Is Not A Curse, But Drudgery Is.
Inspirational
War
Work
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.
Men
Perfect
Every Man
In The Ordinary Business Of Life, Industry Can Do Anything Which Genius Can Do, And Very Many Things Which It Cannot.
Life
Business
Ordinary
No Man Ever Learned To Love God With All His Heart, And His Neighbour As Himself, In A Day.
Heart
Men
God Love
No Man Rides So High And In Such Good Company As The Man That Allies Himself To A Truth.
Truth
Men
Allies
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.
Dream
Time
Cheer
The Mischiefs Of Anarchy Have Been Equaled By The Mischiefs Of Government.
Government
Anarchy
Mischief
No Man Is Such A Conqueror, As The One That Has Defeated Himself.
Men
Discipline
Defeated
Hope Is Sweet-minded And Sweet-eyed. It Draws Pictures; It Weaves Fancies; It Fills The Future With Delight.
Sweet
Delight
Fancy
Greatness Lies Not In Being Strong, But In The Right Use Of Strength.
Inspirational
Strength
Success
The Dog Was Created Specially For Children. He Is A God Of Frolic.
Dog
Children
Poodles
Perverted Pride Is A Great Misfortune In Men; But Pride In Its Original Function, For Which God Created It, Is Indispensable To A Proper Manhood.
Pride
Men
Function
It Is Not In The Nature Of True Greatness To Be Exclusive And Arrogant.
Greatness
Arrogant
Exclusive
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.
Forgiveness
Spiritual
Two
People Of Too Much Sentiment Are Like Fountains, Whose Overflow Keeps A Disagreeable Puddle About Them.
People
Puddles
Too Much
A Lie Always Needs A Truth For A Handle To It. The Worst Lies Are Those Whose Blade Is False, But Whose Handle Is True.
Lying
Needs
Blades
Everyone Has Influence, For Good Or Bad, Upon Others.
Influence
Books Are Not Men And Yet They Stay Alive.
Book
Reading
Men
Interest Works Night And Day In Fair Weather And In Foul. It Gnaws At A Man's Substance With Invisible Teeth.
Night
Men
Weather
No Man Is Good For Anything Who Has Not Some Particle Of Obstinacy To Use Upon Occasion.
Men
Use
Obstinacy
Men Go Shopping Just As Men Go Out Fishing Or Hunting, To See How Large A Fish May Be Caught With The Smallest Hook.
Men
Hunting
Fishing
Genius Is A Steed Too Fiery For The Plow Or The Cart.
Genius
Carts
Fiery
God's Sovereignty Is Not In His Right Hand; God's Sovereignty Is Not In His Intellect; God's Sovereignty Is In His Love.
God
Hands
His Love
A Lie Is A Very Short Wick In A Very Small Lamp. The Oil Of Reputation Is Very Soon Sucked Up And Gone. And Just As Soon As A Man Is Known To Lie, He Is Like A Two-foot Pump In A Hundred-foot Well. He Cannot Touch Bottom At All.
Lying
Men
Two
Weak Minds May Be Injured By Novel-reading; But Sensible People Find Both Amusement And Instruction Therein.
Reading
People
Mind
There Is An Army Of Waiters In This World.
Army
Waiting
World
A Man That Is Afraid Is Never A Man.
Fear
Men
There Are Joys Which Long To Be Ours.
Long
Joy
Fly Away
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.
Heart
Government
Suffering
Each Book Has A Secret History Of Ways And Means.
Book
Mean
Secret
Prayer Covers The Whole Of Man's Life. There Is No Thought, Feeling, Yearning, Or Desire, However Low, Trifling, Or Vulgar We May Deem It, Which If It Affects Our Real Interest Or Happiness, We May Not Lay Before God And Be Sure Of Sympathy.
Prayer
Real
Men
There Are More Quarrels Smothered By Just Shutting Your Mouth, And Holding It Shut, Than By All The Wisdom In The World.
World
Mouths
Quarrels
To The Covetous Man Life Is A Nightmare, And God Lets Him Wrestle With It As Best He May.
Men
May
Nightmare
If You Want Your Neighbor To Know What Christ Will Do For Him, Let The Neighbor See What Christ Has Done For You.
Done
Want
Christ
Prayer Is Often An Argument Of Laziness: "lord, My Temper Gives Me A Vast Deal Of Inconvenience, And It Would Be A Great Task For Me To Correct It; And Wilt Thou Be Pleased To Correct It For Me, That I May Get Along Easier?" If Prayer Was Answered Under Such Circumstances, Independent Of Action Of Natural Laws, It Would Be Paying A Premium On Indolence.
Prayer
Independent
Law
Going Out Into Life--that Is Dying. Christ Is The Door Out Of Life.
Death
Doors
Dying
The Power Of Hiding Ourselves From One Another Is Mercifully Given, For Men Are Wild Beasts, And Would Devour One Another But For This Protection.
Men
Power
Protection
Books Are The True Metempsychosis,--they Are The Symbol And Presage Of Immortality. The Dead Men Are Scattered, And None Shall Find Them. Behold They Are Here! They Do But Sleep.
Book
Sleep
Men
God Made The Human Body, And It Is The Most Exquisite And Wonderful Organization Which Has Come To Us From The Divine Hand.
Exercise
Hands
Organization
Religion Is Only Another Word For The Right Use Of A Man's Whole Self, Instead Of A Wrong Use Of Himself.
Men
Self
Religion
The Real Democratic American Idea Is, Not That Every Man Shall Be On A Level With Every Other Man, But That Every Man Shall Have Liberty To Be What God Made Him, Without Hindrance.
Real
War
Men
They Hover As A Cloud Of Witnesses Above This Nation.
Memorial Day
American Veterans
Clouds
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.
Jesus
Fall
Home
Whatever Is Almost True Is Quite False, And Among The Most Dangerous Of Errors, Because Being So Near Truth, It Is More Likely To Lead Astray.
Truth
Errors
Dangerous
The Way To Avoid Evil Is Not By Maiming Our Passions, But By Compelling Them To Yield Their Vigor To Our Moral Nature.
Passion
Yield
Evil
Religion, In One Sense, Is A Life Of Self-denial, Just As Husbandry, In One Sense, Is A Work Of Death.
Self
Religion
Denial
The Strength Of A Man Consists In Finding Out The Way God Is Going, And Going That Way.
Strength
War
Men
I Pray On The Principle That Wine Knocks The Cork Out Of A Bottle. There Is An Inward Fermentation, And There Must Be A Vent.
Prayer
Wine
Principles
Of All Escape Mechanisms, Death Is The Most Efficient.
Life
Fear
Atheism
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.
Death
Home
Men
The Things Required For Prosperous Labor, Prosperous Manufactures, And Prosperous Commerce Are Three. First, Liberty; Second, Liberty; Third, Liberty.
Liberty
Three
Firsts
What We Call Wisdom Is The Result Of All The Wisdom Of Past Ages. Our Best Institutions Are Like Young Trees Growing Upon The Roots Of The Old Trunks That Have Crumbled Away.
Past
Roots
Tree
As Flowers Carry Dewdrops, Trembling On The Edges Of The Petals, And Ready To Fall At The First Waft Of Wind Or Brush Of Bird, So The Heart Should Carry Its Beaded Words Of Thanksgiving; And At The First Breath Of Heavenly Flavor, Let Down The Shower, Perfumed With The Heart's Gratitude.
Gratitude
Flower
Fall
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.
Mother
Children
Years
All The Sobriety Which' Religion Needs Or Requires Is That Which Real Earnestness Produces.
Real
Sobriety
Religion
The Pie Should Be Eaten "while It Is Yet Florescent, White Or Creamy Yellow, With The Merest Drip Of Candied Juice Along The Edges, (as If The Flavor Were So Good To Itself That Its Own Lips Watered!) Of A Mild And Modest Warmth, The Sugar Suggesting Jelly, Yet Not Jellied, The Morsels Of Apple Neither Dissolved Nor Yet In Original Substance, But Hanging As It Were In A Trance Between The Spirit And The Flesh Of Applehood...then, O Blessed Man, Favored By All The Divinities! Eat, Give Thanks, And Go Forth, 'in Apple-pie Order!'"
Blessed
Men
Yellow
Never Be Grandiloquent When You Want To Drive Home A Searching Truth. Don't Whip With A Switch That Has The Leaves On, If You Want It To Tingle.
Home
Want
Public Speaking
It's Not Work That Kills [people], It Is Worry.
Happiness
People
Worry
God Is The One Great Employer, Thinker, Planner, Supervisor.
God
Supervisors
Employers
What Place Is So Rugged And So Homely That There Is No Beauty; If You Only Have A Sensibility To Beauty?
Beauty
Rugged
Sensibility
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