Emerson Fosdick Quotes

Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

While each of us ... has depressed hours, none of us needs to be a depressed person. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

I hate war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatreds it arouses. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Democracy is not simply a political system; it is a moral movement and it springs from adventurous faith in human possibilities. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, and disciplined. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

A person wrapped up in himself makes a small package. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

It is magnificent to grow old, if one keeps young. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Life consists not simply in what heredity and environment do to us but in what we make out of what they do to us. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Whatever you laugh at in others, laughs at yourself. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Nothing in human life, least of all in religion, is ever right until it is beautiful. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

All altruism springs from putting yourself in the other person's place. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Always take a job that is too big for you. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Every year the inventions of science weave more inextricably the web that binds man to man, group to group, nation to nation. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

We cannot all be great, but we can always attach ourselves to something that it great. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

The tragedy of war is that it uses man's best to do man's worst. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

It is cynicism and fear that freeze life; it is faith that thaws it out, releases it, sets it free. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Picture yourself vividly as winning, and that alone will contribute immeasurably to success. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

No virtue is more universally accepted as a test of good character than trustworthiness . — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Of all mad faiths maddest is the faith that we can get rid of faith. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Life is like a library owned by the author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

In the foothills of the Himalayas, one hears the prayer: "Oh Lord, we know not what is good for us. You know what it is. For it we pray." — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Preaching is personal counseling on a group basis. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

No one can be wrong with man and right with God. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

It is by acts (actions) and not by ideas (mere thoughts) that people [really] live. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Great living starts with a picture, held in your imagination, of what you would like to do or be. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

He is a poor son whose sonship does not make him desire to serve all men's mothers. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

No character is ultimately tested until it has suffered. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

I hate war ... for the dictatorships it puts in the place of democracies, and for the starvation that stalks after it. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Religion is something that only secondarily can be taught. It must must primarily be taught. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

The finest quality of our characters do not come from trying but from the mysterious and yet most effective capacity to be inspired. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

It is not marriage that fails; it is people that fail. All that marriage does is to show people up. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Atheism is a theoretical formulation of the discouraged life ... — Harry Emerson Fosdick

The steady discipline of intimate friendship with Jesus results in men becoming like Him. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

[L]ife ceases to be a fraction and becomes an integer. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Every failure can be considered as a tragedy or a chance to learn something. The latter is healthier — Harry Emerson Fosdick

We cannot restore integrity and morality to our society until each of us-singly and individually-takes responsibility for our actions. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

One could almost phrase the motto of our modern civilization thus: Science is my shepherd; I shall not want. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

One never finds life worth living. One always has to make it work living. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Happiness is not mostly pleasure, it is mostly victory. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

No man is the whole of himself; his friends are the rest of him. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Life asks not merely what you can do; it asks how much can you endure and not be spoiled. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Our power is not so much in us as through us. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Opinions may be mistaken; love never is. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

The stars are not so strange as the mind that studies them, analyzes their light, and measures their distance. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

He who cannot rest, cannot work; he who cannot let go, cannot hold on; he who cannot find footing, cannot go forward. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

All intelligent faith in God has behind it a background of humble agnosticism. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

No man need stay the way he is. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Religion is not a burden, not a weight, it is wings. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

Falsehood is never better than truth, theft better than honesty, treachery better than loyalty, cowardice better than courage. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

What a testing of character adversity is. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

God has put within our lives meanings and possibilities that quite outrun the limits of mortality. — Harry Emerson Fosdick