Background Image

...

Mirth Is God's Medicine. Everybody Ought To Bathe In It. Grim Care, Moroseness, Anxiety,--all This Rust Of Life, Ought To Be Scoured Off By The Oil Of Mirth. It Is Better Than Emery. Every Man Ought To Rub Himself With It. A Man Without Mirth Is Like A Wagon Without Springs, In Which One Is Caused Disagreeably To Jolt By Every Pebble Over Which It Runs.

-Henry Ward Beecher

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Mirth Is God's Medicine.

Henry Ward Beecher

...

Mirth Is God's Medicine. Everybody Ought To Bathe In It. Grim Care, Moroseness, Anxiety,--all This Rust Of Life, Ought To Be Scoured Off By The Oil Of Mirth. It Is Better Than Emery. Every Man Ought To Rub Himself With It. A Man Without Mirth Is Like A Wagon Without Springs, In Which One Is Caused Disagreeably To Jolt By Every Pebble Over Which It Runs.

Views: 86468

Topic

More From Henry Ward Beecher

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

Why Is Not A Rat As Good As A Rabbit? Why Should Men Eat Shrimps And Neglect Cockroaches?

Where All Of The Man Is What Property He Owns, It Does Not Take Long To Annihilate Him.

There Is An Equator That Runs Just Under The Nose: All That Live Below The Equator Are Animals; All That Live Above It Are Men.

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

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.

Flowers Have An Expression Of Countenance As Much As Men Or Animals. Some Seem To Smile; Some Have A Sad Expression; Some Are Pensive And Diffident; Others Are Plain, Honest And Upright, Like The Broad Faced Sunflower And The Hollyhock.

Books Are Not Men And Yet They Stay Alive.

The True Secret Of Giving Advice Is, After You Have Honestly Given It, To Be Perfectly Indifferent Whether It Is Taken Or Not, And Never Persist In Trying To Set People Right.

Like Waves, Our Feelings May Continue By Repeating Themselves, By Intermittent Rushes; But No Emotion Any More Than A Wave Can Long Retain Its Own Individual Form.

Like A Bird She Seems To Wear Gay Plumage Unconsciously, As If It Grew Upon Her.

Christians Should Be Like A Flower Store: The Odor Of Sanctity Should Betray Them Wherever They Are.

Spreading Christianity Abroad Is Sometimes An Excuse For Not Having It At Home.

Were One To Ask Me In Which Direction I Think Man Strongest, I Should Say, His Capacity To Hate.

The Cynic Is One Who Never Sees A Good Quality In A Man, And Never Fails To See A Bad One. He Is The Human Owl, Vigilant In Darkness And Blind To Light, Mousing For Vermin, And Never Seeing Noble Game.

Where Human Life Needs Most Sympathy, Where Usually It Is The Most Barren, There It Is That Christ Is More Likely To Be Found Than Anywhere Else.

It Is Not The Going Out Of Port, But The Coming In, That Determines The Success Of A Voyage.

Congratulations

They Hover As A Cloud Of Witnesses Above This Nation.

American Veterans

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

God Has Made Sleep To Be A Sponge By Which To Rub Out Fatigue. A Man's Roots Are Planted In Night As In A Soil.

What A Mother Sings To The Cradle Goes All The Way Down To The Coffin.

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

The Thistle Is A Prince. Let Any Man That Has An Eye For Beauty Take A View Of The Whole Plant, And Where Will He See A More Expressive Grace And Symmetry; And Where Is There A More Kingly Flower?

It's Not Work That Kills [people], It Is Worry.

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.

Death? Translated Into The Heavenly Tongue, That Word Means Life!

Many Men Want Wealth,--not A Competence Alone, But A Live-story Competence. Everything Subserves This; And Religion They Would Like As A Sort Of Lightning-rod To Their Houses, To Ward Off By And By The Bolts Of Divine Wrath.

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

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

He That Does Not Know How Wisely To Meddle With Public Affairs In Preaching The Gospel, Does Not Know How To Preach The Gospel.

Preaching The Gospel

That Energy Which Makes A Child Hard To Manage Is The Energy Which Afterwards Makes Him A Manager Of Life.

All Men Are Tempted. There Is No Man That Lives That Can't Be Broken Down, Provided It Is The Right Temptation, Put In The Right Spot.

He Is Rich Or Poor According To What He Is, Not According To What He Has.

Repentance May Begin Instantly, But Reformation Often Requires A Sphere Of Years.

Caution And Conservatism Are Expected Of Old Age; But When The Young Men Of A Nation Are Possessed Of Such A Spirit, When They Are Afraid Of The Noise And Strife Caused By The Applications Of The Truth, Heaven Save The Land! Its Funeral Bell Has Already Rung.

Men Have A Thousand Desires To A Bushel Of Choices.

Religion Would Save A Man; Christ Would Make Him Worth Saving.

The Head Learns New Things, But The Heart Forever Practices Old Experiences.

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.

Next To Ingratitude The Most Painful Thing To Bear Is Gratitude.

Good-nature Is One Of The Richest Fruits Of True Christianity.

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?

There Is No Greater Crime Than To Stand Between A Man And His Development; To Take Any Law Or Institution And Put It Around Him Like A Collar, And Fasten It There, So That As He Grows And Enlarges, He Presses Against It Till He Suffocates And Dies.

The Continuance And Frequent Fits Of Anger Produce In The Soul A Propensity To Be Angry; Which Oftentimes Ends In Choler, Bitterness, And Moronity, When The Mid Becomes Ulcerated, Peevish, And Querulous, And Is Wounded By The Least Occurrence.

God Bless The Good-natured, For They Bless Everybody Else.

The Mischiefs Of Anarchy Have Been Equaled By The Mischiefs Of Government.

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.

But When We Borrow Trouble, And Look Forward Into The Future To See What Storms Are Coming, And Distress Ourselves Before They Come As To How We Shall Avert Them If They Ever Do Come, We Lose Our Proper Trustfulness In God. When We Torment Ourselves With Imaginary Dangers, Or Trials, Or Reverses, We Have Already Parted With That Perfect Love Which Casteth Out Fear.

That Which Men Suppose The Imagination To Be, And To Do, Is Often Frivolous Enough And Mischievous Enough; But That Which God Meant It To Be In The Mental Economy Is Not Merely Noble, But Supereminent. It Is The Distinguishing Element In All Refinement. It Is The Secret And Marrow Of Civilization. It Is The Very Eye Of Faith. The Soul Without Imagination Is What An Observatory Would Be Without A Telescope.

A Man That Does Not Know How To Be Angry Does Not Know How To Be Good.

Pushing Any Truth Out Very Far, You Are Met By A Counter-truth.

Remember God's Bounty In The Year. String The Pearls Of His Favor. Hide The Dark Parts, Except So Far As They Are Breaking Out In Light! Give This One Day To Thanks, To Joy, To Gratitude!

The Greatest Architect And The One Most Needed Is Hope.

Happy Is The Man Who Has That In His Soul Which Acts Upon The Dejected As April Airs Upon Violet Roots. Gifts From The Hand Are Silver And Gold, But The Heart Gives That Which Neither Silver Nor Gold Can Buy. To Be Full Of Goodness, Full Of Cheerfulness, Full Of Sympathy, Full Of Helpful Hope, Causes A Man To Carry Blessings Of Which He Is Himself As Unconscious As A Lamp Is Of Its Own Shining. Such A One Moves On Human Life As Stars Move On Dark Seas To Bewildered Mariners; As The Sun Wheels, Bringing All The Seasons With Him From The South.

The Gravest Events Dawn With No More Noise Than The Morning Star Makes In Rising. All Great Developments Complete Themselves In The World And Modestly Wait In Silence, Praising Themselves Never, And Announcing Themselves Not At All. We Must Be Sensitive, And Sensible, If We Would See The Beginnings And Endings Of Great Things. That Is Our Part.

Nothing Can Be More Airy And Beautiful Than The Transparent Seed-globe-a Fairy Dome Of Splendid Architecture.

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

I Have Known Many An Instance Of A Man Writing A Letter And Forgetting To Sign His Name, But This Is The Only Instance I Have Ever Known Of A Man Signing His Name And Forgetting To Write The Letter.

Nature Is A Vast Repository Of Manly Enjoyments.

All Things In The Natural World Symbolize God, Yet None Of Them Speak Of Him But In Broken And Imperfect Words.

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.

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

Nature Would Be Scarcely Worth A Puff Of The Empty Wind If It Were Not That All Nature Is But A Temple, Of Which God Is The Brightness And The Glory.

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.

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.

Everyone Has Conscience Enough To Hate; Few Have Religion Enough To Love.

A Reputation For Good Judgment, For Fair Dealing, For Truth, And For Rectitude, Is Itself A Fortune.

Next To Victory, There Is Nothing So Sweet As Defeat, If Only The Right Adversary Overcomes You.

Don't Look Where You Fall, But Where You Slipped.

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

All Words Are Pegs To Hang Ideas On.

Whenever Education And Refinement Carry Us Away From The Common People, They Are Growing Towards Selfishness, Which Is The Monster Evil Of The World. That Is True Cultivation Which Gives Us Sympathy With Every Form Of Human Life, And Enables Us To Work Most Successfully For Its Advancement. Refinement That Carries Us Away From Our Fellow People Is Not God's Refinement.

We Pray For Those Who Have Ceased To Pray. We Pray For Those That Need Prayer More Than Ever, That Have Fewer And Fewer Seasons Even Of Thought, That Grow Hard With Years, That Are Less And Less Troubled By Sin, And That Are More And More Irreverent Of Religion. We Pray For The Children Of Christian Parents Who Sometimes Weep At The Memory Of Father And Mother, But Who Never Have Thought Of God.

He Is The Happiest Man Who Is Engaged In A Business Which Tasks The Most Faculties Of His Mind.

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

It Is Defeat That Turns Bone To Flint; It Is Defeat That Turns Gristle To Muscle; It Is Defeat That Makes Men Invincible. Do Not Then Be Afraid Of Defeat. You Are Never So Near To Victory As When Defeated In A Good Cause.

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

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

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

Conscience Is The Frame Of Character, And Love Is The Covering For It.

The Worst Thing In This World, Next To Anarchy, Is Government.

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

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.

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.

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

If One, Then, Asks Me The Meaning Of Our Flag, I Say To Him, It Means Just What Concord And Lexington Meant, What Bunker Hill Meant; It Means The Whole Glorious Revolutionary War, Which Was, In Short, The Rising Up Of A Valiant Young People Against An Old Tyranny, To Establish The Most Momentous Doctrine That The World Had Ever Known - The Right Of Men To Their Own Selves And To Their Liberties.

Adversity Is The Mint In Which God Stamps Upon Man His Image And Superscription.

Our Yearnings Are Homesicknesses For Heaven; Our Sighings Are For God, Just As Children That Cry Themselves Asleep Away From Home, And Sob In Their Slumber, Know Not That They Sob For Their Parents. The Soul's Inarticulate Moanings Are The Affections Yearning For The Infinite, And Having No One To Tell Them What It Is That Ails Them.

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

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

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

Repentance Is The Turning Of The Soul From The Way Of Midnight To The Point Of The Coming Sun.

Home Should Be An Oratorio Of The Memory, Singing To All Our After Life Melodies And Harmonies Of Old-remembered Joy.

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

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.

It Is The End Of Art To Inoculate Men With The Love Of Nature. But Those Who Have A Psssion For Nature In The Natural Way, Need No Pictures Nor Gallereies. Spring Is Their Designer, And The Whole Year Their Artist.

Death Is The Christian's Vacation Morning. School Is Out. It Is Time To Go Home.

Give Us That Calm Certainty Of Truth, That Nearness To Thee, That Conviction Of The Reality Of The Life To Come, Which We Shall Need To Bear Us Through The Troubles Of This.

Do Not Be Troubled Because You Have Not Great Virtues. God Made A Million Spears Of Grass Where He Made One Tree. The Earth Is Fringed And Carpeted, Not With Forests, But With Grasses. Only Have Enough Of Little Virtues And Common Fidelities, And You Need Not Mourn Because You Are Neither A Hero Or A Saint.

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

Take All The Robes Of All The Good Judges That Have Ever Lived On The Face Of The Earth, And They Would Not Be Large Enough To Cover The Iniquity Of One Corrupt Judge.

To Array A Man's Will Against His Sickness Is The Supreme Art Of Medicine.

What Could Make Me Love My Fellow Christian Better Than To See That God Loves Us All As We Were All One Soul?

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.

Sorrows, As Storms, Bring Down The Clouds Close To The Earth; Sorrows Bring Heaven Down Close; And They Are Instruments Of Cleansing And Purifying.

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

When A Nation's Young Men Are Conservative, Its Funeral Bell Is Already Rung.

Leaves Die, But Trees Do Not. They Only Undress.

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.

Rain! Whose Soft Architectural Hands Have Power To Cut Stones, And Chisel To Shapes Of Grandeur The Very Mountains.

When A Man Can Look Upon The Simple Wild-rose, And Feel No Pleasure, His Taste Has Been Corrupted.

Any Law That Takes Hold Of A Mans Daily Life Cannot Prevail In A Community, Unless The Vast Majority Of The Community Are Actively In Favor Of It. The Laws That Are The Most Operative Are The Laws Which Protect Life.

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

If Christ Is The Wisdom Of God And The Power Of God In The Experience Of Those Who Trust And Love Him, There Needs No Further Argument Of His Divinity.

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

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

Live In The Moment

There Is No Friendship, No Love, Like That Of The Parent For The Child.

There Is Not A Single Heart But Has Its Moments Of Longing.

Though Cares And Sorrows E'er Must Come, Though Heart Be Rent, I Know That God Will Give Me Strength, When Mine Is Spent.

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

The Truest Self-respect Is Not To Think Of Self.

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

It Is A View Of God That Compensates Every Thing Else, And Enables The Soul To Rest In His Bosom. How, When The Child In The Night Screams With Terror, Hearing Sounds That It Knows Not Of, Is That Child Comforted And Put To Rest? Is It By A Philosophical Explanation That The Sounds Were Made By The Rats In The Partition? Is It By Imparting Entomological Knowledge? No; It Is By The Mother Taking The Child In Her Lap, And Singing Sweetly To It, And Rocking It. And The Child Thinks Nothing Of The Explanation, But Only Of The Mother.

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

Genius Is A Steed Too Fiery For The Plow Or The Cart.

Heaven Will Be Inherited By Every Man Who Has Heaven In His Soul.

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

The Bible Is God's Chart For You To Steer By, To Keep You From The Bottom Of The Sea, And To Show You Where The Harbor Is, And How To Reach It Without Running On Rocks Or Bars.

We Ought To Be Ten Times As Hungry For Knowledge As For Food For The Body.

Very Few Men Acquire Wealth In Such A Manner As To Receive Pleasure From It. Just As Long As There Is The Enthusiasm Of The Chase They Enjoy It; But When They Begin To Look Around, And Think Of Settling Down, They Find That That Part By Which Joy Enters Is Dead In Them. They Have Spent Their Lives In Heaping Up Colossal Piles Of Treasure, Which Stand, At The End, Like The Pyramids In The Desert Sands, Holding Only The Dust Of Kings.

Sophistry Is The Fallacy Of Argument.

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.

But There Have Been Human Hearts, Constituted Just Like Ours, For Six Thousand Years. The Same Stars Rise And Set Upon This Globe That Rose Upon The Plains Of Shinar Or Along The Egyptian Nile And The Same Sorrows Rise And Set In Every Age.

Despondency Is Ingratitude; Hope Is God's Worship.

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!'"

The Grossest, The Cruelest, The Most Selfish, The Most Easily Pervertible And Perverted Thing In This World, Is Government.

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.

Loving Is Like Music. Some Instruments Can Go Up Two Octaves, Some Four, And Some All The Way From Black Thunder To Sharp Lightning. As Some Of Them Are Susceptible Only Of Melody, So Some Hearts Can Sing But One Song Of Love, While Others Will Fun In A Full Choral Harmony.

It Is Often Said It Is No Matter What A Man Believes If He Is Only Sincere. This Is True Of All Minor Truths, And False Of All Truths Whose Nature It Is To Fashion A Man's Life. It Will Make No Difference In A Man's Harvest Whether He Thinks Turnips Have More Saccharine Matter Than Potatoes--whether Corn Is Better Than Wheat. But Let The Man Sincerely Believe That Seed Planted Without Ploughing Is As Good As With, That January Is As Favorable For Seed Sowing As April, And That Cockle Seed Will Produce As Good A Harvest As Wheat, And Will It Make No Difference?

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.

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 Mother's Heart Is The Child's Schoolroom.

No Man Is More Cheated Than The Selfish Man.

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.

The Human Soul Is God's Treasury, Out Of Which He Coins Unspeakable Riches.

Men Think God Is Destroying Them Because He Is Tuning Them. The Violinist Screws Up The Key Till The Tense Cord Sounds The Concert Pitch; But It Is Not To Break It, But To Use It Tunefully, That He Stretches The String Upon The Musical Rack.

The Humblest Individual Exerts Some Influence, Either For Good Or Evil, Upon Others.

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.

A Cunning Man Overreaches No One Half As Much As Himself.

The Deeper Men Go Into Life, The Deeper Is Their Conviction That This Life Is Not All. It Is An Unfinished Symphony. A Day May Round Out An Insect's Life, And A Bird Or A Beast Needs No Tomorrow. Not So With Him Who Knows That He Is Related To God And Has Felt The Power Of An Endless Life.

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.

In The Ordinary Business Of Life, Industry Can Do Anything Which Genius Can Do, And Very Many Things Which It Cannot.

Many People Are Afraid To Embrace Religion, For Fear They Shall Not Succeed In Maintaining It.

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

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

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

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.

No Grief Has A Right To Immortality. That Ground Belongs To Joy, To Hope, To Faith.

It Is Not Merely Cruelty That Leads Men To Love War, It Is Excitement.

Newspapers Are The Schoolmasters Of The Common People.

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

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

One Should Go To Sleep As Homesick Passengers Do, Saying, "perhaps In The Morning We Shall See The Shore.

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

It's Easier To Go Down A Hill Than Up It But The View Is Much Better At The Top.

Now Comes The Mystery.

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

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

Weak Minds May Be Injured By Novel-reading; But Sensible People Find Both Amusement And Instruction Therein.

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

Our Earthly Loves Are But So Many Silver Steps Leading Us Up To The Great Golden Love Of God.

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.

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

Education Is The Knowledge Of How To Use The Whole Of Oneself. Many Men Use But One Or Two Faculties Out Of The Score With Which They Are Endowed. A Man Is Educated Who Knows How To Make A Tool Of Every Faculty, How To Open It, How To Keep It Sharp, And How To Apply It To All Practical Purposes.

Joy Is More Divine Than Sorrow, For Joy Is Bread And Sorrow Is Medicine.

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

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.

Downright Admonition, As A Rule, Is Too Blunt For The Recipient.

There Are Multitudes Of Persons Whose Idea Of Liberty Is The Right To Do What They Please, Instead Of The Right Of Doing That Which Is Lawful And Best.

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

All True Religion Must Stand On True Morality.

Nothing Is Orderly Till Man Takes Hold Of It. Everything In Creation Lies Around Loose.

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.

To Become An Able And Successful Man In Any Profession, Three Things Are Necessary, Nature, Study And Practice.

Too Much Looking Backward ... Is Bad For Progress.

Christ Certainly Did Come To Destroy The Law And The Prophets.

Compassion Will Cure More Sins Than Condemnation.

Love Is The World's River Of Life

A Man That Has Lost Moral Sense Is Like A Man In Battle With Both Of His Legs Shot Off: He Has Nothing To Stand On.

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 Mystery Of History Is An Insoluble Problem.

Men Will Let You Abuse Them If Only You Will Make Them Laugh.

Intelligence Increases Mere Physical Ability One Half. The Use Of The Head Abridges The Labor Of The Hands.

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

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

Some People Think Black Is The Color Of Heaven, And That The More They Can Make Their Faces Look Like Midnight, The More Evidence They Have Of Grace. But God, Who Made The Sun And The Flowers, Never Sent Me To Proclaim To You Such A Lie As That.

A Thoughtful Mind, When It Sees A Nation's Flag, Sees Not The Flag, But The Nation Itself.

I Received A Letter From A Lad Asking Me For An Easy Berth. To This I Replied: You Cannot Be An Editor; Do Not Try The Law; Do Not Think Of The Ministry; Let Alone All Ships And Merchandise; Abhor Politics; Don't Practice Medicine; Be Not A Farmer Or A Soldier Or A Sailor; Don't Study, Don't Think. None Of These Are Easy. O, My Son, You Have Come Into A Hard World. I Know Of Only One Easy Place In It, And That Is The Grave!

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

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

Trending Author

Linford Christie

Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Category