Henry Ward Beecher Quotes
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Mountains of gold would not seduce some men, yet flattery would break them down.
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There are many persons of combative tendencies, who read for ammunition, and dig out of the Bible iron for balls. They read, and they find nitre and charcoal and sulphur for powder. They read, and they find cannon. They read, and they make portholes and embrasures. And if a man does not believe as they do, they look upon him as an enemy, and let fly the Bible at him to demolish him. So men turn the word of God into a vast arsenal, filled with all manner of weapons, offensive and defensive.
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Men will imitate and admire his unmoved firmness, his inflexible conscience for the right; and yet his gentleness, as tender as a woman's, his moderation of spirit, which not all the heat of party could inflame, nor all the jars and disturbances of this country shake out of its place: I swear you to an emulation of his justice, his moderation, and his mercy.
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Precise knowledge is the only true knowledge, and he who does not teach exactly, does not teach at all.
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The first merit of pictures is the effect which they can produce upon the mind; — and the first step of a sensible man should be to receive involuntary effects from them. Pleasure and inspiration first, analysis afterward.
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We let our blessings get mouldy, and then call them curses.
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Age and youth look upon life from the opposite ends of the telescope; it is exceedingly long,--it is exceedingly short.
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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.
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Intelligence increases mere physical ability one half. The use of the head abridges the labor of the hands.
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No grace can save any man unless he helps himself.
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A babe is nothing but a bundle of possibilities.
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We steal if we touch tomorrow. It is God's.
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Some of God's noblest sons, I think, will be selected from those that know how to take wealth, with all its temptations, and maintain godliness therewith. It is hard to be a saint standing in a golden niche.
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An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful bwefore all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it, and courage to execute? The exterior is not persuasive.
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Of all joyful, smiling, ever-laughing experiences, there are none like those which spring from true religion.
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It's easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.
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No man is good for anything who has not some particle of obstinacy to use upon occasion.
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Truths are first clouds; then rain, then harvest and food.
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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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Victories are easy and cheap. The only victories worth anything are those achieved through hard work and dedication.
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Reason can tell how love affects us, but cannot tell what love is.
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Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.
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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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That was a judicious mother who said, "I obey my children for the first year of their lives, but ever after I expect them to obey me.