Henry Ward Beecher Quotes
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The slave labors, but with no cheer - it is not the road to respectability, it will honor him with no citizens' trust, it brings no bread to his family, no grain to his garner, no leisure in after-days, no books or papers to his children. It opens no school-house door, builds no church, rears for him no factory, lays no keel, fills no bank, earns no acres. With sweat and toil and ignorance he consumes his life, to pour the earnings into channels from which he does no drink, into hands that never honor him. But perpetually rob and often torment.
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There is not a heart but has its moments of longing, yearning for something better; nobler; holier than it knows now.
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Morality is character and conduct such as is required by the circle or community in which the man's life happens to be placed. It shows how much good men require of us.
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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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A coat that is not used, the moths eat; and a Christian who is hung up so that he shall not be tempted-the moths eat him; and they have poor food at that.
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God's sovereignty is not in His right hand; God's sovereignty is not in His intellect; God's sovereignty is in His love.
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Ignorance is the womb of monsters.
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There is no such thing as white lies; a lie is as black as a coalpit, and twice as foul.
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God makes the life fertile by disappointments, as he makes the ground fertile by frosts.
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May we feel after Thee; still calling out in the darkness, as children waking in the night call "Father," so may we call out for God; and, at times, even if we do not hear Thy voice, may there be the form of a hand resting upon us, and that shall be enough; for we shall take hold of it, though it be in the dark, and it shall guide us to the growing light; for the day shall come, and the release and triumph.
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As plants take hold, not for the sake of staying, but only that they may climb higher, so it is with men. By every part of our nature we clasp things above us, one after another, not for the sake of remaining where we take hold, but that we may go higher.
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They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.
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But when we borrow trouble, and look forward into the future to see what storms are coming, and distress ourselves before they come as to how we shall avert them if they ever do come, we lose our proper trustfulness in God. When we torment ourselves with imaginary dangers, or trials, or reverses, we have already parted with that perfect love which casteth out fear.
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There is not a person we employ who does not, like ourselves, desire recognition, praise, gentleness, forbearance, patience.
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Some people are so dry that you might soak them in a joke for a month and it would not get through their skins.
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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.
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Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.
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What a pity flowers can utter no sound!-A singing rose, a whispering violet, a murmuring honeysuckle ... oh, what a rare and exquisite miracle would these be!
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Some men are like pyramids, which are very broad where they touch the ground, but grow narrow as they reach the sky.
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Nothing can be more airy and beautiful than the transparent seed-globe-a fairy dome of splendid architecture.
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No coffee can be good in the mouth that does not first send a sweet offering of odor to the nostrils.
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Prayer covers the whole of man's life. There is no thought, feeling, yearning, or desire, however low, trifling, or vulgar we may deem it, which if it affects our real interest or happiness, we may not lay before God and be sure of sympathy.
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Christ is risen! There is life, therefore, after death! His resurrection is the symbol and pledge of universal resurrection!
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That is true culture which helps us to work for the social betterment of all.