John Lancaster Spalding Quotes
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When the crowd acclaims its favorites it applauds itself.
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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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Altruism is a barbarism. Love is the word.
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The study of law is valuable as a mental discipline, but the practice of pleading tends to make one petty, formal, and insincere. To be driven to look to legality rather than to equity blurs the view of truth and justice.
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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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They who no longer believe in principles still proclaim them, to conceal, both from themselves and others, the selfishness of the motives by which they are dominated.
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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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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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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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God has not made a world which suits all; how shall a sane man expect to please all?
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If thou hast sought happiness and missed it, but hast found wisdom instead, thou art fortunate.
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When one sense has been bribed the others readily bear false witness.
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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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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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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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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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The teacher does best, not when he explains, but when he impels his pupils to seek themselves the explanation.
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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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If our opinions rest upon solid ground, those who attack them do not make us angry, but themselves ridiculous.
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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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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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Say not thou lackest talent. What talent had any of the greatest, but passionate faith in the efficacy of work?
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Liberty is more precious than money or office; and we should be vigilant lest we purchase wealth or place at the price of inner freedom.
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Insight makes argument ridiculous.