John Lancaster Spalding Quotes
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The test of the worth of a school is not the amount of knowledge it imparts, but the self-activity it calls forth.
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To think of education as a means of preserving institutions however excellent, is to have a superficial notion of its end and purpose, which is to mould and fashion men who are more than institutions, who create, outgrow, and re-create them.
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Dislike of another’s opinions and beliefs neither justifies our own nor makes us more certain of them: and to transfer the repugnance to the person himself is a mark of a vulgar mind.
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There are who mistake the spirit of pugnacity for the spirit of piety, and thus harbor a devil instead of an angel.
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Have as little suspicion as possible and conceal that.
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If we are disappointed that men give little heed to what we utter is it for their sake or our own?
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Love finds us young and keeps us so: immortal himself, he permits not age to enter the hearts where he reigns.
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Insight makes argument ridiculous.
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Thy money, thy office, thy reputation are nothing; put away these phantom clothings, and stand like an athlete stripped for the battle.
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If our opinions rest upon solid ground, those who attack them do not make us angry, but themselves ridiculous.
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We do not find it hard to bear with ourselves, though we are full of faults. Why then may we not learn to be tolerant of others?
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God has not made a world which suits all; how shall a sane man expect to please all?
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A gentleman does not appear to know more or to be more than those with whom he is thrown into company.
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True readers … are ready to go through a whole volume, if there be but hope of finding in it a single genuine thought or the mere suggestion even of a truth which has some fresh application to life.
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If thou canst not hold the golden mean, say and do too little rather than too much.
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No sooner does a divine gift reveal itself in youth or maid than its market value becomes the decisive consideration, and the poor young creatures are offered for sale, as we might sell angels who had strayed among us.
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Let not what thou canst not prevent, though it be the ruin of thy home or country, draw thee from thy proper work.
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The teacher does best, not when he explains, but when he impels his pupils to seek themselves the explanation.
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A liberal education is that which aims to develop faculty without ulterior views of profession or other means of gaining a livelihood. It considers man an end in himself and not an instrument whereby something is to be wrought. Its ideal is human perfection.
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Say not thou lackest talent. What talent had any of the greatest, but passionate faith in the efficacy of work?
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There is some lack either of sense or of character in one who becomes involved in difficulties with the worthless or the vicious.
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Mercenary is whoever thinks less of his work than of the money he receives for doing it; and social conditions which impose tasks that make this inevitable are barbarous.
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Solitude is unbearable for those who can not bear themselves.
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Each individual bears within himself an ideal man, and to bring him forth in perfect form is his divinely imposed life-work.