John Lancaster Spalding Quotes
Top 100 wise famous quotes and sayings by John Lancaster Spalding
John Lancaster Spalding Famous Quotes & Sayings
Discover top inspirational quotes from John Lancaster Spalding on Wise Famous Quotes.
Leave each one his touch of folly; it helps to lighten life's burden which, if he could see himself as he is, might be too heavy to carry.
To think profoundly, to seek and speak truth, to love justice and denounce wrong is to draw upon one's self the ill will of many.
When we have attained success, we see how inferior it is to the hope, yearning and enthusiasm with which we started forth in life's morning.
We may outgrow the things of children, without acquiring sense and relish for those which become a man.
If ancient descent could confer nobility, the lower forms of life would possess it in a greater degree than man.
When we have not the strength or the courage to grasp a new truth, we persuade ourselves that it is not a truth at all.
Inferior thinking and writing will make a name for a man among inferior people, who in all ages and countries, are the majority.
Those subjects have the greatest educational value, which are richest in incentives to the noblest self-activity.
As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which we cannot escape.
Though what we accept be true, it is a prejudice unless we ourselves have considered and understood why and how it is true.
The exercise of authority is odious, and they who know how to govern, leave it in abeyance as much as possible.
There is some lack either of sense or of character in one who becomes involved in difficulties with the worthless or the vicious.
There are who mistake the spirit of pugnacity for the spirit of piety, and thus harbor a devil instead of an angel.
The first requisite of a gentleman is to be true, brave and noble, and to be therefore a rebuke and scandal to venal and vulgar souls.
The ploughman knows how many acres he shall upturn from dawn to sunset: but the thinker knows not what a day may bring forth.
The power of free will is developed and confirmed by increasing the number of worthy motives which influence conduct.
If our opinions rest upon solid ground, those who attack them do not make us angry, but themselves ridiculous.
As our power over others increases, we become less free; for to retain it, we must make ourselves its servants.
Education would be a divine thing, if it did nothing more than help us to think and love great thoughts instead of little thoughts.
In the world of thought a man's rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement.
In giving us dominion over the animal kingdom God has signified His will that we subdue the beast within ourselves.
If thou need money, get it in an honest way by keeping books, if thou wilt, but not by writing books.
The common prejudice against philosophy is the result of the incapacity of the multitude to deal with the highest problems.
Exercise of body and exercise of mind are supplementary, and both may be made recreative and educative.
The teacher does best, not when he explains, but when he impels his pupils to seek themselves the explanation.
If thou wouldst be interesting, keep thy personality in the background, and be great and strong in and through thy subject.
The writers who accomplish most are those who compel thought on the highest and most profoundly interesting subjects.
Unless we consent to lack the common things which men call success, we shall hardly become heroes or saints, philosophers or poets.
As we can not love what is hateful, let us accustom ourselves neither to think nor to speak of disagreeable things and persons.
Thy money, thy office, thy reputation are nothing; put away these phantom clothings, and stand like an athlete stripped for the battle.
It is a common error to imagine that to be stirring and voluble in a worthy cause is to be good and to do good.
Say not thou lackest talent. What talent had any of the greatest, but passionate faith in the efficacy of work?
Passion is begotten of passion, and it easily happens, as with the children of great men, that the base is the offspring of the noble.
Women are aristocrats, and it is always the mother who makes us feel that we belong to the better sort.
A gentleman does not appear to know more or to be more than those with whom he is thrown into company.
If we fail to interest, whether because we are dull and heavy, or because our hearers are so, we teach in vain.
If there are but few who interest thee, why shouldst thou be disappointed if but few find thee interesting?
As the visit of one we love makes the whole day pleasant, so is it illumined and made fair by a brave and beautiful thought.
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.
If I am not pleased with myself, but should wish to be other than I am, why should I think highly of the influences which have made me what I am?
Language should be pure, noble and graceful, as the body should be so: for both are vestures of the Soul.
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.
There are faults which show heart and win hearts, while the virtue in which there is no love, repels.
Those who believe in our ability do more than stimulate us. They create for us an atmosphere in which it becomes easier to succeed.