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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.
-Henry Ward Beecher
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When A Man Says

Henry Ward Beecher
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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.

Understanding the Quote: "when a man says that he is perfect already, there is only..."

This quote by Henry Ward Beecher reflects deeply on the theme of men. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Men, Two, Perfect, 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 men and two. 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
Men
Two
Perfect
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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.
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Morality Is Good, And Is Accepted Of God, As Far As It Goes; But The Difficulty Is, It Does Not Go Far Enough.
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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.
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Affliction Comes To Us All ...not To Impoverish, But To Enrich Us, As The Plough Enriches The Field; To Multiply Our Joy, As The Seed, By Planting, Is Multiplied A Thousand-fold.
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They Who Refuse Education To A Black Man Would Turn The South Into A Vast Poorhouse, And Labor Into A Pendulum, Necessity Vibrating Between Poverty And Indolence.
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Tyrannies Are Overthrown By Ideas. Armies Are Defeated By Ideas. Nations, And Time Itself, Are Overmatched By Ideas.
Army
Ideas
Defeated
A Love Of Flowers Would Beget Early Rising, Industry, Habits Of Close Observation, And Of Reading. It Would Incline The Mind To Notice Natural Phenomena, And To Reason Upon Them. It Would Occupy The Mind With Pure Thoughts, And Inspire A Sweet And Gentle Enthusiasm; Maintain Simplicity Of Taste; And ... Unfold In The Heart An Enlarged, Unstraightened, Ardent Piety.
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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.
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Law
If There's A Job To Be Done, I Always Ask The Busiest Man In My Parish To Take It On And It Gets Done.
Jobs
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That Is The Best Baptism That Leaves The Man Cleanest Inside.
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See To It That Each Hour's Feelings, And Thoughts, And Actions Are Pure And True; Then Will Your Life Be Such.
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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.
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A Man's Religion Is Himself. If He Is Right-minded Toward God, He Is Religious; If The Lord Jesus Christ Is His Schoolmaster, Then He Is Christianly Religious.
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Theology Is A Science Of Mind Applied To God.
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Nothing Can Be More Airy And Beautiful Than The Transparent Seed-globe-a Fairy Dome Of Splendid Architecture.
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The Soul Is A Temple; And God Is Silently Building It By Night And By Day. Precious Thoughts Are Building It; Disinterested Love Is Building It; All-penetrating Faith Is Building It.
Night
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The Strength Of A Man Consists In Finding Out The Way God Is Going, And Going That Way.
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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.
Health
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Pushing Any Truth Out Very Far, You Are Met By A Counter-truth.
Truth
Pushing
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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.
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No Man Is Sane Who Does Not Know How To Be Insane On Proper Occasions.
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A House Built On Sand Is, In Fair Weather, Just As Good As If Builded On A Rock. A Cobweb Is As Good As The Mightiest Chain Cable When There Is No Strain On It. It Is Trial That Proves One Thing Weak And Another Strong.
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All The Wide World Is But The Husbandry Of God For The Development Of The One Fruit-man.
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Oftentimes Great And Open Temptations Are The Most Harmless Because They Come With Banners Flying And Bands Playing And All The Munitions Of War In Full View, So That We Know We Are In The Midst Of Enemies That Mean Us Damage, And We Get Ready To Meet And Resist Them. Our Peculiar Dangers Are Those That Surprise Us And Work Treachery In Our Fort.
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Downright Admonition, As A Rule, Is Too Blunt For The Recipient.
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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.
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The Highest Order That Was Ever Instituted On Earth Is The Order Of Faith.
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Order
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If A Man Meets With Injustice, It Is Not Required That He Shall Not Be Roused To Meet It; But If He Is Angry After He Has Had Time To Think Upon It, That Is Sinful. The Flame Is Not Wrong, But The Coals Are.
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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.
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There Are Persons So Radiant, So Genial, So Kind, So Pleasure-bearin G, That You Instinctively Feel In Their Presence That They Do You Good; Whose Coming Into A Room Is Like Bringing A Lamp There.
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Love Is The River Of Life In This World. Think Not That Ye Know It Who Stand At The Little Tinkling Rill, The First Small Fountain. Not Until You Have Gone Through The Rocky Gorges, And Not Lost The Stream; Not Until You Nave Gone Through The Meadow, And The Stream Has Widened And Deepened Until Fleets Could Ride On Its Bosom; Not Until Beyond The Meadow You Have Come To The Unfathomable Ocean, And Poured Your Treasures Into Its Depths--not Until Then Can You Know What Love Is.
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What A Mother Sings To The Cradle Goes All The Way Down To The Coffin.
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A Mother's Prayers, Silent And Gentle, Can Never Miss The Road To The Throne Of All Bounty.
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Life Would Be A Perpetual Flea Hunt If A Man Were Obliged To Run Down All The Innuendoes, Inveracities, And Insinuations And Misrepresentations Which Are Uttered Against Him.
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War
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.
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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.
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Sometimes Fear Is Wholesome And Rational; It Is Well To Swing Fear As A Mighty Battle-axe Over Men's Heads When No Other Motive Will Move Them.
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In This World It Is Not What We Take Up, But What We Give Up, That Makes Us Rich.
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As Flowers Always Wear Their Own Colors And Give Forth Their Own Fragrance Every Day Alike, So Should Christians Maintain Their Character At All Times And Under All Circumstances.
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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!'"
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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.
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Greatness Lies, Not In Being Strong, But In The Right Using Of Strength; And Strength Is Not Used Rightly When It Serves Only To Carry A Man Above His Fellows For His Own Solitary Glory. He Is The Greatest Whose Strength Carries Up The Most Hearts By The Attraction Of His Own.
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I Never Knew How To Worship Until I Knew How To Love.
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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?
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Love Is The Wine Of Existence. When You Have Taken That, You Have Taken The Most Precious Drop That There Is In The Cluster.
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Not Another Flag Has Such An Errand, Carrying Everywhere, The World Around, Such Hope For Freedom Such Glorious Tidings.
Flags
Errands
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There Is An Army Of Waiters In This World.
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Waiting
World
If You Have Only Two Or Three Things That You Can Enjoy And They Are Things Which Time And Decay May Remove From You, What Are You Going To Do In Old Age?
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In America There Is Not One Single Element Of Civilization That Is Not Made To Depend, In The End, Upon Public Opinion.
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A Tool Is But The Extension Of A Man's Hand, And A Machine Is But A Complex Tool. And He That Invents A Machine Augments The Power Of A Man And The Well-being Of Mankind.
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The Greatest Architect And The One Most Needed Is Hope.
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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.
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Never Excuse Yourself.
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Excuse
There Is Nothing That Is So Wonderfully Created As The Human Soul. There Is Something Of God In It. We Are Infinite In The Future, Though We Are Finite In The Past.
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When A Nation's Young Men Are Conservative, Its Funeral Bell Is Already Rung.
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Men
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The Diameter Of Each Day Is Measured By The Stretch Of Thought - Not By The Rising And Setting Of The Sun.
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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.
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Skins
Next
To Be A Christian Is To Obey Christ No Matter How You Feel.
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How You Feel
Matter
The Soul Is Often Hungrier Than The Body And No Shop Can Sell It Food.
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Body
Shops
Wherever You Have Seen God Pass, Mark That Spot, And Go And Sit In That Window Again.
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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.
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Go On Your Knees Before God. Bring All Your Idols; Bring Self-will, And Pride, And Every Evil Lust Before Him, And Give Them Up. Devote Yourself, Heart And Soul, To His Will; And See If You Do Not "know Of The Doctrine.
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Compassion Will Cure More Sins Than Condemnation.
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Christ Is Risen! There Is Life, Therefore, After Death! His Resurrection Is The Symbol And Pledge Of Universal Resurrection!
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Resurrection
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Blessed Are They Who Know How To Shine On One's Gloom With Their Cheer.
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Cheer
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Reading Is A Dissuasion From Immorality. Reading Stands In The Place Of Company.
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There Are Materials Enough In Every Man's Mind To Make A Hell There.
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Tears Are Often The Telescope By Which Men See Far Into Heaven.
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The Test Of Christian Character Should Be That A Man Is A Joy-bearing Agent To The World.
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To Become An Able And Successful Man In Any Profession, Three Things Are Necessary, Nature, Study And Practice.
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In The Morning, We Carry The World Like Atlas; At Noon, We Stoop And Bend Beneath It; And At Night, It Crushes Us Flat To The Ground.
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What A Pity Flowers Can Utter No Sound!-a Singing Rose, A Whispering Violet, A Murmuring Honeysuckle ... Oh, What A Rare And Exquisite Miracle Would These Be!
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This World Is Not A Platform Where You Will Hear Thalberg-piano-playing. It Is A Piano Manufactory, Where Are Dust And Shavings And Boards, And Saws And Files And Rasps And Sandpapers. The Perfect Instrument And The Music Will Be Hereafter.
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Good Nature Is Worth More Than Knowledge, More Than Money, More Than Honor, To The Persons Who Possess It.
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God Never Made Anything Else So Beautiful As Man.
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All The Sobriety Which' Religion Needs Or Requires Is That Which Real Earnestness Produces.
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Watch Lest Prosperity Destroy Generosity.
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That State Of Mind In Which A Man Is Impressed With Invisible Things Is Faith.
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Someone Calls Biography The Home Aspect Of History.
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Young Love Is A Flame; Very Pretty, Often Very Hot And Fierce, But Still Only Light And Flickering. The Love Of The Older And Disciplined Heart Is As Coals, Deep-burning, Unquenchable.
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The Pen Is The Tongue Of The Hand; A Silent Utterer Of Words For The Eye.
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We Let Our Blessings Get Mouldy, And Then Call Them Curses.
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A Person Can No More Make Money Suddenly And Largely, And Be Unharmed By It, Than One Could Suddenly Grow From A Child's Stature To An Adult's Without Harm.
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Any Man Can Work When Every Stroke Of His Hands Brings Down The Fruit Rattling From The Tree ... But To Labor In Season And Out Of Season, Under Every Discouragement... That Requires A Heroism Which Is Transcendent.
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Men
Even A Liar Tells A Hundred Truths To One Lie; He Has To, To Make The Lie Good For Anything.
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Liars
Lying
He Who Only Does Not Appreciate Floral Beauty Is To Be Pitied Like Any Other Man Who Is Born Imperfect. It Is A Misfortune Not Unlike Blindness.
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Men
Appreciate
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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Months
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.
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Men
Dust
Wealth Held By A Class And Used Ambitiously Becomes As Despotic As An Absolute Monarchy, And Has In Its Hands Manners, Customs, Laws, Institutions, And Governments Themselves.
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Hands
Law
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.
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Clothes And Manners Do Not Make The Man; But When He Is Made, They Greatly Improve His Appearance.
Fashion
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Clothes
Law Represents The Effort Of Man To Organize Society; Governments, The Efforts Of Selfishness To Overthrow Liberty.
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Men
Law
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?
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War
Men
Vigilance Is Not Only The Price Of Liberty, But Of Success Of Any Sort.
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Adversity Is The Mint In Which God Stamps Upon Man His Image And Superscription.
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Stamps
There Never Was A Liar That Had Not A Spot In Him Where He Could Not Help Admiring Truth.
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There Is An Ugly Kind Of Forgiveness In This World,--a Kind Of Hedgehog Forgiveness, Shot Out Like Quills. Men Take One Who Has Offended, And Set Him Down Before The Blowpipe Of Their Indignation, And Scorch Him, And Burn His Fault Into Him; And When They Have Kneaded Him Sufficiently With Their Fiery Fists, Then--they Forgive Him.
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Despondency Is Ingratitude; Hope Is God's Worship.
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Worship
Despondency
Suffering Is Part Of The Divine Idea.
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Suffering
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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.
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Sorry
I Beseech You To Correct One Fault - Severe Speech Of Others; Never Speak Evil Of Any Man, No Matter What The Facts May Be.
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May
Good Men Are Not Those Who Now And Then Do A Good Act, But Men Who Join One Good Act To Another.
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Now And Then
It Is The End Of Art To Inoculate Men With The Love Of Nature.
Art
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Ends
Repentance Is Another Name For Aspiration.
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If God But Cares For Our Inward And Eternal Life, If By All The Experiences Of This Life He Is Reducing It And Preparing For Its Disclosure, Nothing Can Befall Us But Prosperity. Every Sorrow Shall Be But The Setting Of Some Luminous Jewel Of Joy. Our Very Morning Shall Be But The Enamel Around The Diamond; Our Very Hardships But The Metallic Rim That Holds The Opal, Glancing With Strange Interior Fires.
Morning
Fire
Jewels
A Babe Is A Mother's Anchor.
Mother
Baby
Anchors
The Beginning Is The Promise Of The End.
Promise
Ends
The Worst Prison Is Not Of Stone. It Is Of A Throbbing Heart, Outraged By An Infamous Life.
Heart
Stones
Prison
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.
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Light
Oil
A Library Is But The Soul's Burial Ground; It Is The Land Of Shadows. Yet One Is Impressed With The Thought, The Labor, And The Struggle, Represented In This Vast Catacomb Of Books. Who Could Dream, By The Placid Waters That Issue From The Level Mouths Of Brooks Into The Lake, All The Plunges, The Whirls, The Divisions, And Foaming Rushes That Had Brought Them Down To The Tranquil Exit? And Who Can Guess Through What Channels Of Disturbance, And Experiences Of Sorrow, The Heart Passed That Has Emptied Into This Dead Sea Of Books?
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There Is No Liberty To Men Whose Passions Are Stronger Than Their Religious Feelings; There Is No Liberty To Men In Whom Ignorance Predominates Over Knowledge; There Is No Liberty To Men Who Know Not How To Govern Themselves.
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Passion
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Pain Is God's Midwife, That Helps Some Virtue Into Existence.
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Helping
Virtue
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.
Music
Men
Thinking
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
Interest Works Night And Day In Fair Weather And In Foul. It Gnaws At A Man's Substance With Invisible Teeth.
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Weather
He Is The Happiest Man Who Is Engaged In A Business Which Tasks The Most Faculties Of His Mind.
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Mind
Tasks
Books Are Not Made For Furniture, But There Is Nothing Else That So Beautifully Furnishes A House.
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Children Are Unpredictable. You Never Know What Inconsistency They Are Going To Catch You In Next.
Education
Children
Parenting
Some People Are So Dry That You Might Soak Them In A Joke For A Month And It Would Not Get Through Their Skins.
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Humor
People
It Is Defeat That Turns Bone To Flint, Gristle To Muscle, And Makes Men Invincible.
Men
Bones
Defeat
A Woman's Pity Often Opens The Door To Love.
Doors
Pity
Repentance Is The Turning Of The Soul From The Way Of Midnight To The Point Of The Coming Sun.
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Midnight
Way
An Ambition Which Has Conscience In It Will Always Be A Laborious And Faithful Engineer, And Will Build The Road, And Bridge The Chasms Between Itself And Eminent Success By The Most Faithful And Minute Performances Of Duty.
Ambition
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Joy Is More Divine Than Sorrow, For Joy Is Bread And Sorrow Is Medicine.
Happiness
Medicine
Joy
God Wishes To Exhaust All Means Of Kindness Before His Hand Takes Hold On Justice.
God
Kindness
Mean
God Bless The Good-natured, For They Bless Everybody Else.
God Bless
Bless
Good 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.
Writing
Men
Victory
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
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
Nature
Men
Defeat Is A School In Which Truth Always Grows Strong.
Strong
War
School
Life Is Full Of Amusement To An Amusing Man.
Life
Men
Amusing
Indeed, Unless A Man Can Link His Written Thoughts With The Everlasting Wants Of Men, So That They Shall Draw More From Them As Wells, There Is No More Immortality To The Thoughts And Feelings Of The Soul Than To The Muscles And Bones.
Men
Feelings
Soul
There Are Three Schoolmasters For Everybody That Will Employ Them - The Senses, Intelligent Companions, And Books.
Book
School
Intelligent
Earthly Love Is A Brief And Penurious Stream, Which Only Flows In Spring, With A Long Summer Drought. The Change From A Burning Desert, Treeless, Springless, Drear, To Green Fields And Blooming Orchards In June, Is Slight In Comparison With That From The Desert Of This World's Affection To The Garden Of God, Where There Is Perpetual, Tropical Luxuriance Of Blessed Love.
Love
Summer
Spring
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.
Christian
Mother
Memories
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
Men Are Like Trees: Each One Must Put Forth The Leaf That Is Created In Him.
Men
Tree
Leafs
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
Lying
The Art Of Being Happy Lies In The Power Of Extracting Happiness From Common Things.
Inspirational
Life
Positive
Greatness Lies Not In Being Strong, But In The Right Use Of Strength.
Inspirational
Strength
Success
There Is No Liberty To Men Who Know Not How To Govern Themselves.
Men
Liberty
Knows
A Book Is Good Company. It Is Full Of Conversation Without Loquacity. It Comes To Your Longing With Full Instruction, But Pursues You Never.
Book
Longing
Good Company
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!
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Night
Land
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.
Spring
Men
Feelings
Learning, To Be Of Much Use, Must Have A Tendency To Spread Itself Among The Common People.
Learning
People
Use
Every Tomorrow Has Two Handles. We Can Take Hold Of It With The Handle Of Anxiety Or The Handle Of Faith. We Should Live For The Future, And Yet Should Find Our Life In The Fidelities Of The Present; The Last Is Only The Method Of The First.
Life
Faith
Two
I Have Great Hope Of A Wicked Man, Slender Hope Of A Mean One. A Wicked Man May Be Converted And Become A Prominent Saint. A Mean Man Ought To Be Converted Six Or Seven Times, One Right After The Other, To Give Him A Fair Start And Put Him On An Equality With A Bold, Wicked Man.
Mean
Men
Giving
Laws And Institutions, Like Clocks, Must Occasionally Be Cleaned, Wound Up, And Set To True Time.
Funny
War
Humor
True Elegance Becomes The More So As It Approaches Simplicity.
Simplicity
Elegance
Approach
Make Men Large And Strong And Tyranny Will Bankrupt Itself In Making Shackles For Them.
Strong
Men
Shackles
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.
Love
Winning
Men
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.
Jesus
Needs
Christ
No Man Can Tell Another His Faults So As To Benefit Him, Unless He Loves Him.
Men
Criticism
Benefits
Death? Translated Into The Heavenly Tongue, That Word Means Life!
Death
Mean
Tongue
That Energy Which Makes A Child Hard To Manage Is The Energy Which Afterwards Makes Him A Manager Of Life.
Children
Energy
Manage
The Ability To Convert Ideas To Things Is The Secret Of Outward Success.
Inspirational
Life
Success
The Bible Is Like A Telescope. If A Man Looks Through His Telescope, Then He Sees Worlds Beyond; But, If He Looks At His Telescope, Then He Does Not See Anything But That.
Men
Doe
Looks
Refinement That Carries Us Away From Our Fellow-men Is Not God's Refinement.
Men
Fellow Man
Fellows
Every Boy Wants Someone Older Than Himself To Whom He May Go In Moods Of Confidence And Yearning. The Neglect Of This Child's Want By Grown People . . . Is A Fertile Source Of Suffering.
Children
Boys
People
It Is A Higher Exhibition Of Christian Manliness To Be Able To Bear Trouble Than To Get Rid Of It.
Christian
Exhibitions
Able
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
October Is Nature's Funeral Month. Nature Glories In Death More Than In Life. The Month Of Departure Is More Beautiful Than The Month Of Coming - October Than May. Every Green Thin Loves To Die In Bright Colors.
Beautiful
Autumn
Color
Very Few Men Acquire Wealth In Such A Manner As To Receive Pleasure From It.
Men
Wealth
Pleasure
Undoubtedly We Render Our Consciences Callous By Evil Indulgences; But We Cannot Entirely Subdue That Still, Small Voice.
Voice
Evil
Callous
Beware Of Him Who Hates The Laugh Of A Child.
Laughter
Children
Hate
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.
Education
Men
Law
We Steal If We Touch Tomorrow. It Is God's.
Future
Live In The Moment
Tomorrow
No Man Is Good For Anything Who Has Not Some Particle Of Obstinacy To Use Upon Occasion.
Men
Use
Obstinacy
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
Conscience Is The Frame Of Character, And Love Is The Covering For It.
Character
Love Is
Personality
Flattery Is Praise Insincerely Given For An Interested Purpose.
Criticism
Purpose
Flattery
The Philosophy Of One Century Is The Common Sense Of The Next.
Wisdom
Philosophy
War
Everything That Happens In This World Is A Part Of A Great Plan Of God Running Through All Time.
Running
World
Providence
Success Surely Comes With Conscience In The Long Run, Other Things Being Equal. Capacity And Fidelity Are Commercially Profitable Qualities.
Success
Running
Long
The World Is God's Workshop For Making Men In.
God
Men
World
God Is A Being Who Gives Everything But Punishment In Over Measure.
God
Punishment
Giving
When There Is Love In The Heart, There Are Rainbows In The Eyes, Which Cover Every Black Cloud With Gorgeous Hues.
Love
Heart
Eye
A Library Is Not A Luxury But One Of The Necessities Of Life.
Educational
Book
Reading
Many People Are Afraid To Embrace Religion, For Fear They Shall Not Succeed In Maintaining It.
People
Maintaining
Succeed
People May Excite In Themselves A Glow Of Compassion, Not By Toasting Their Feet At The Fire, And Saying: "lord, Teach Me Compassion," But By Going And Seeking An Object That Requires Compassion.
Compassion
Fire
Feet
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!
Jobs
Son
Thinking
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
Our Best Successes Often Come After Our Greatest Disappointments.
Inspiring
Disappointment
Failure
The Head Learns New Things, But The Heart Forever Practices Old Experiences.
Broken Heart
War
Practice
Truths Are First Clouds; Then Rain, Then Harvest And Food.
Rain
Food
Clouds
Some People Are Proud Of Their Humility.
Humility
Pride
People
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
There Is An Ugly Kind Of Forgiveness In This World--a Kind Of Hedgehog Forgiveness, Shot Out Like Quills.
Forgiveness
World
Hedgehogs
No Matter Who Reigns, The Merchant Reigns.
Reign
Matter
Merchants
Nowhere Else Can One Find So Miscellaneous, So Various, An Amount Of Knowledge As Is Contained In A Good Newspaper.
Knowledge
Newspapers
Miscellaneous
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
Women Are A New Race, Recreated Since The World Received Christianity.
Women
Race
World
Grim Care, Moroseness, Anxiety-all This Rust Of Life Ought To Be Scoured Off By The Oil Of Mirth. Mirth Is God's Medicine.
Happiness
Laughter
Oil
A Christianity Which Will Not Help Those Who Are Struggling From The Bottom To The Top Of Society, Needs Another Christ To Die For It.
Struggle
Needs
Helping
I Never Know How To Worship Until I Know How To Love.
How To Love
Worship
Know How
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
Truth Is
Christ Certainly Did Come To Destroy The Law And The Prophets.
Law
Christ
Prophet
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
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.
Bible
Writing
Names
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
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