John Lancaster Spalding Quotes
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In the world of thought a man’s rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement.
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We have lost the old love of work, of work which kept itself company, which was fair weather and music in the heart, which found its reward in the doing, craving neither the flattery of vulgar eyes nor the gold of vulgar men.
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The narrow-minded and petty sticklers for the formalities which hedge rank and office are the true vulgarians, however observant they be of etiquette.
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It is difficult to be sure of our friends, but it is possible to be certain of our loyalty to them.
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There are faults which show heart and win hearts, while the virtue in which there is no love, repels.
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We are not masters of the truth which is borne in upon us: it overpowers us.
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Friends humor and flatter us, they steal our time, they encourage our love of ease, they make us content with ourselves, they are the foes of our virtue and our glory.
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The noblest are they who turning from the things the vulgar crave, seek the source of a blessed life in worlds to which the senses do not lead.
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What we think out for ourselves forms channels in which other thoughts will flow.
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Perfection is beyond our reach, but they who earnestly strive to become perfect, acquire excellences and virtues of which the multitude have no conception.
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Since the mass of mankind are too ignorant or too indolent to think seriously, if majorities are right it is by accident.
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The seeking for truth is better than its loveless possession.
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If a state should pass laws forbidding its citizens to become wise and holy, it would be made a byword for all time. But this, in effect, is what our commercial, social, and political systems do. They compel the sacrifice of mental and moral power to money and dissipation.
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The power of free will is developed and confirmed by increasing the number of worthy motives which influence conduct.
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In our thrifty populations of merchants, manufacturers, politicians, and professional men, there is little sense for beauty, little pure thought, little genuine culture; but they are prosperous and self-satisfied.
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Where it is the chief aim to teach many things, little education is given or received.
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There are few things it is more important to learn than how to live on little and be therewith content: for the less we need what is without, the more leisure have we to live within.
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If thy words are wise, they will not seem so to the foolish: if they are deep the shallow will not appreciate them. Think not highly of thyself, then, when thou art praised by many.
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It is not worth while to consider whether a truth be useful-it is enough that it is a truth.
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If thou wouldst be interesting, keep thy personality in the background, and be great and strong in and through thy subject.
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What purifies the heart refines language.
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The best book is but the record of the best life.
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The genius is childlike. Like children he looks into the world as into a new creation and finds there a perennial source of wonder and delight.
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What we enjoy, not what we possess, is ours, and in labouring for the possession of many things, we lose the power to enjoy the best.