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

-Henry Ward Beecher

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We Know That The

Henry Ward Beecher

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

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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.

Religion Is The Fruit Of The Spirit, A Christian Character, A True Life.

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.

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

I Will Not Say It Is Not Christian To Make Beads Of Others Faults, And Tell Them Over Every Day; I Say It Is Infernal. If You Want To Know How The Devil Feels, You Do Know, If You Are Such An One.

If There Be Any One Whose Power Is In Beauty, In Purity, In Goodness, It Is A Woman.

It's Not The Work Which Kills People, It's The Worry. It's Not The Revolution That Destroys Machinery It's The Friction.

Heaven Answers With Us The Same Purpose That The Tuning-fork Does With Musicians. Our Affections, The Whole Orchestra Of Them, Are Apt To Get Below The Concert-pitch; And We Take Heaven To Tune Our Hearts By.

We Need Not Fear Shipwreck When God Is The Pilot.

Nothing Marks The Change From The City To The Country So Much As The Absence Of Grinding Noises. The Country Is Never Silent. But Its Sounds Are Separate, Distinct, And As It Were, Articulate.

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?

It Is Not In The Nature Of True Greatness To Be Exclusive And Arrogant.

When A Church Is Faithless To Its Duties, The Real Church Is Outside Its Walls, In The Community.

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

Age And Youth Look Upon Life From The Opposite Ends Of The Telescope; It Is Exceedingly Long,--it Is Exceedingly Short.

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

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

Men Do Not Avail Themselves Of The Riches Of God's Grace. They Love To Nurse Their Cares, And Seem As Uneasy Without Some Fret As An Old Friar Would Be Without His Hair Girdle. They Are Commanded To Cast Their Cares Upon The Lord, But Even When They Attempt It, They Do Not Fail To Catch Them Up Again, And Think It Meritorious To Walk Burdened.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Life Is Full Of Amusement To An Amusing Man.

Selfishness Is That Detestable Vice Which No One Will Forgive In Others, And No One Is Without Himself.

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

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

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

Now, Men Think, With Regard To Their Conduct, That, If They Were To Lift Themselves Up Gigantically And Commit Some Crashing Sin, They Should Never Be Able To Hold Up Their Heads; But They Will Harbor In Their Souls Little Sins, Which Are Piercing And Eating Them Away To Inevitable Ruin.

Trouble Teaches Men How Much There Is In Manhood.

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.

Find Out What Your Temptations Are, And You Will Find Out Largely What You Are Yourself.

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

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

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

“i Can Forgive, But I Cannot Forget,” Is Only Another Way Of Saying, “i Will Not Forgive.”

Self-denial Does Not Belong To Religion As Characteristic Of It; It Belongs To Human Life; The Lower Nature Must Always Be Denied When You Are Trying To Rise To A Higher Sphere.

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.

God Made The Human Body, And It Is The Most Exquisite And Wonderful Organization Which Has Come To Us From The Divine Hand.

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

The Cynic Puts All Human Actions Into Two Classes - Openly Bad And Secretly Bad.

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.

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

The Poor Man With Industry Is Happier Than The Rich Man In Idleness.

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

True Obedience Is True Freedom.

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

Men Strengthen Each Other In Their Faults. Those Who Are Alike Associate Together, Repeat The Things Which All Believe, Defend And Stimulate Their Common Faults Of Disposition, And Each One Receives From The Others A Reflection Of His Own Egotism.

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.

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

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

Not Thine The Sorrow, But Ours, Sainted Soul! Thou Hast Indeed Entered Into The Promised Land, While We Are Yet On The March. To Us Remain The Rocking Of The Deep, The Storm Upon The Land, Days Of Duty And Nights Of Watching; But Thou Are Sphered High Above All Darkness And Fear, Beyond All Sorrow And Weariness. Rest, Oh, Weary Heart!

He That Lives By The Sight Of The Eye May Grow Blind.

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

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.

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

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

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

Compassion Will Cure More Sins Than Condemnation.

Before Men We Stand As Opaque Bee-hives. They Can See The Thoughts Go In And Out Of Us; But What Work They Do Inside Of A Man They Cannot Tell. Before God We Are As Glass Bee-hives, And All That Our Thoughts Are Doing Within Us He Perfectly Sees And Understands.

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.

People Of Too Much Sentiment Are Like Fountains, Whose Overflow Keeps A Disagreeable Puddle About Them.

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.

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.

Reason Is A Permanent Blessing Of God To The Soul. Without It There Can Be No Large Religion.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

A Man Without Mirth Is Like Wagon Without Springs, In Which One Is Caused Disagreeably To Jolt By Every Pebble Over Which It Turns.

When A Man Says That He Is Perfect Already, There Is Only One Of Two Places For Him, And That Is Heaven Or The Lunatic Asylum.

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

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.

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

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.

For Fidelity, Devotion, Love, Many A Two-legged Animal Is Below The Dog And The Horse. Happy Would It Be For Thousands Of People If They Could Stand At Last Before The Judgment Seat And Say, I Have Loved As Truly And Have Lived As Decently As My Dog, And Yet We Call Them Only Brutes.

It Is Necessary, If One Would Read Aright, That He Should Read At Least Two Newspapers, Representing Both Sides Of Important Subjects.

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 Woman's Pity Often Opens The Door To Love.

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

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.

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

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

This World Is Magnificent For Strangers And Pilgrims, But Miserable For Residents.

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?

John Wesley Quaintly Observed That The Road To Heaven Is A Narrow Path, Not Intended For Wheels, And That To Ride In A Coach Here And To Go To Heaven Hereafter, Was A Happiness Too Much For Man.

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

Blessed Are They Who Know How To Shine On One's Gloom With Their Cheer.

Mirth Is The Sweet Wine Of Human Life. It Should Be Offered Sparkling With Zestful Life Unto God.

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!

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.

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.

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.

There Are Joys Which Long To Be Ours. God Sends Ten Thousands Truths, Which Come About Us Like Birds Seeking Inlet; But We Are Shut Up To Them, And So They Bring Us Nothing, But Sit And Sing Awhile Upon The Roof, And Then Fly Away.

The Things That Hurt Us Teach Us.

There Is No Harder Shield For The Devil To Pierce With Temptation Than Singing With Prayer.

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.

The Common Schools Are The Stomachs Of The Country In Which All People That Come To Us Are Assimilated Within A Generation. When A Lion Eats An Ox, The Lion Does Not Become An Ox But The Ox Becomes A Lion.

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

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.

Some Have Supposed That The Mosquito Is Of A Devout Turn, And Never Will Partake Of A Meal Without First Saying Grace. The Devotions Of Some Men Are But A Preface To Blood-sucking.

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.

Newspapers Are The Schoolmasters Of The Common People.

In America There Is Not One Single Element Of Civilization That Is Not Made To Depend, In The End, Upon Public Opinion.

Christianity Is Simply The Ideal Form Of Manhood Represented To Us By Jesus Christ.

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.

A Library Is But The Soul's Burying Ground. It Is A Land Of Shadows.

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

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.

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.

Public Speaking

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

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

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. If We Receive News, That A Hundred Thousand Dollars Had Been Left Them By Some One Dying, We Should Be Thrown Into An Ecstasy Of Rejoicing; But When They Have Gone Home To God, We Stand, And Mourn, And Pine, And Wonder At The Mystery Of Providence.

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

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

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.

Sorrows Are Gardeners: They Plant Flowers Along Waste Places, And Teach Vines To Cover Barren Heaps.

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.

Flattery Is Praise Insincerely Given For An Interested Purpose.

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

Men Who Neglect Christ, And Try To Win Heaven Through Moralities, Are Like Sailors At Sea In A Storm, Who Pull, Some At The Bowsprit And Some At The Mainmast, But Never Touch The Helm.

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.

A Man That Is Afraid Is Never A Man.

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.

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

A Bird In A Cage Is Not Half A Bird.

God Planted Fear In The Soul As Truly As He Planted Hope Or Courage. Pear Is A Kind Of Bell, Or Gong, Which Rings The Mind Into Quick Life And Avoidance Upon The Approach Of Danger. It Is The Soul's Signal For Rallying.

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

Love Is More Just Than Justice.

No Coffee Can Be Good In The Mouth That Does Not First Send A Sweet Offering Of Odor To The Nostrils.

When A Man Sells Eleven Ounces For Twelve, He Makes A Compact With The Devil, And Sells Himself For The Value Of An Ounce.

As Warmth Makes Even Glaciers Trickle, And Opens Streams In The Ribs Of Frozen Mountains, So The Heart Knows The Full Flow And Life Of Its Grief Only When It Begins To Melt And Pass Away.

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.

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

Never Excuse Yourself.

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.

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.

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.

When Young Men Or Women Are Beginning Life, The Most Important Period, It Is Often Said, Is That In Which Their Habits Are Formed. That Is A Very Important Period. But The Period In Which The Ideals Of The Young Are Formed And Adopted Is More Important Still. For The Ideal With Which You Go Forward To Measure Things Determines The Nature, So Far As You Are Concerned, Of Everything You Meet.

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.

Every Young Man Would Do Well To Remember That All Successful Business Stands On The Foundation Of Morality.

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.

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

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.

They Hover As A Cloud Of Witnesses Above This Nation.

American Veterans

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

All True Religion Must Stand On True Morality.

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

Theology Is A Science Of Mind Applied To God.

Science And Religion

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 Ignorant Classes Are The Dangerous Classes.

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

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

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?

Not Another Flag Has Such An Errand, Carrying Everywhere, The World Around, Such Hope For Freedom Such Glorious Tidings.

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

Many Men Are Mere Warehouses Full Of Merchandise--the Head, The Heart, Are Stuffed With Goods. . . . There Are Apartments In Their Souls Which Were Once Tenanted By Taste, And Love, And Joy, And Worship, But They Are All Deserted Now, And The Rooms Are Filled With Earthy And Material Things.

Undoubtedly We Render Our Consciences Callous By Evil Indulgences; But We Cannot Entirely Subdue That Still, Small Voice.

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

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

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

The God Of The Bible Is A Moral Monstrosity.

Indifference In Religion Is More Fatal Than Skepticism. There Is No Pulse In Indifference; Skepticism May Have Warm Blood.

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

We Only See In A Lifetime A Dozen Faces Marked With The Peace Of A Contented Spirit.

I Used To Think The Lord's Prayer Was A Short Prayer; But As I Live Longer, And See More Of Life, I Begin To Believe There Is No Such Thing As Getting Through It. If A Man, In Praying That Prayer, Were To Be Stopped By Every Word Until He Had Thoroughly Prayed It, It Would Take Him A Lifetime.

To Know That One Has A Secret Is To Know Half The Secret Itself.

Keeping Secrets

Many A Man Has Been Dined Out Of His Religion, And His Politics, And His Manhood, Almost.

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

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

Suffering Is Part Of The Divine Idea.

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

Love Is The World's River Of Life

It Takes Longer For Man To Find Out Man Than Any Other Creature That Is Made.

Flowers May Beckon Todwards Us, But They Speak Todward Heaven And God.

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

What If You Have Seen It Before, Ten Thousand Times Over? An Apple Tree In Full Blossom Is Like A Message, Sent Fresh From Heaven To Earth, Of Purity And Beauty.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Think Of A Man In A Chronic State Of Anger!

Self-government By The Whole People Is The Teleologic Idea. The Republican Form Of Government Is The Noblest And The Best, As It Is The Latest.

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

Pain Is God's Midwife, That Helps Some Virtue Into Existence.

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

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

We Sleep, But The Loom Of Life Never Stops, And The Pattern Which Was Weaving When The Sun Went Down Is Weaving When It Comes Up In The Morning.

A Mother Is As Different From Anything Else That God Ever Thought Of, As Can Possibly Be. She Is A Distinct And Individual Creation.

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.

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

The Difference Between Perseverance And Obstinacy Is That One Comes From A Strong Will, And The Other From A Strong Won't.

Success Surely Comes With Conscience In The Long Run, Other Things Being Equal. Capacity And Fidelity Are Commercially Profitable Qualities.

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

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Mario Vargas Llosa

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