James Anthony Froude Quotes
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There are at bottom but two possible religions--that which rises in the moral nature of man, and which takes shape in moral commandments, and that which grows out of the observation of the material energies which operate in the external universe.
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Life is more than a theory, and love of truth butters no bread: old men who have had to struggle along their way, who know the endless bitterness, the grave moral deterioration which follow an empty exchequer, may well be pardoned for an over-wish to see their sons secured from it; hunger, at least, is a reality...
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I believe in God, not because the Bible tells me that he is, but because my heart tells me so; and the same heart tells me we can only have His peace with us if we love Him and obey Him, and that we can only he happy when we each love our neighbour better than ourselves.
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I cut a hole in my heart and wrote with the blood.
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The best that we can do for one another is to exchange our thoughts freely; and that, after all, is about all.
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There are epidemics of nobleness as well as epidemics of disease.
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To tell men that they cannot help themselves is to fling them into recklessness and despair.
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The moral of human life is never simple, and the moral of a story which aims only at being true to human life cannot be expected to be any more so.
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I am convinced with Plato, with St. Paul, with St. Augustine, with Calvin, and with Leibnitz, that this universe, and every smallest portion of it, exactly fulfils the purpose for which Almighty God designed it.
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Show me if I am wrong. It is easy to be mistaken. But do not tell me it is wicked of me to have thought all this, for it is not - I am certain it is not.
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The trials of life will not wait for us. They come at their own time, not caring much to inquire how ready we may be to meet them.
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How true it is that arguments have only power over us while the temper is disposed to listen to them!
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We cannot live on probabilities. The faith in which we can live bravely and die in peace must be a certainty, so far as it professes to be a faith at all, or it is nothing.
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A single seed of fact will produce in a season or two a harvest of calumnies; but sensible men will pay no attention to them.
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In everyday things the law of sacrifice takes the form of positive duty.
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Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.
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I have long been convinced that the Christian Eucharist is but a continuation of the Eleusinian mysteries. St Paul, in using the word teleiois, almost confirms this.
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The practical effect of a belief is the real test of its soundness.
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But the world was also so constructed, owing to the nature of the Maker of it, that superior strength was found in the long run to lie with those who had the right on their side.
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A person possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.
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Nature is less partial than she appears, and all situations in life have their compensations along with them.
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I have nothing but myself to write about, no facts, no theories, no opinions, no adventures, no sentiments, nothing but my own poor barren individualism, of considerable interest to me, but I do not know why I should presume it will be so to you. Egotism is not tiresome, or it ought not to be, if one is sincere about oneself; but it is so hard to be sincere. Well, never mind, I mean to be, and you know me well enough to see through me when I am humbugging.
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Fear is the parent of cruelty.
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Of all the evil spirits abroad at this hour in the world, insincerity is the most dangerous.