Henry Ward Beecher Quotes - Page 15

• It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Worry is rust upon the blade.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, Worry, Stressed

  Henry Ward Beecher (1871). “Lectures to young men, on various important subjects”, p.303

  13 Copy quote

• The continuance and frequent fits of anger produce in the soul a propensity to be angry; which oftentimes ends in choler, bitterness, and moronity, when the mid becomes ulcerated, peevish, and querulous, and is wounded by the least occurrence.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  War, Anger, Soul

  7 Copy quote

• Perverted pride is a great misfortune in men; but pride in its original function, for which God created it, is indispensable to a proper manhood.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Pride, Men, Function

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

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• It is the very wantonness of folly for a man to search out the frets and burdens of his calling and give his mind every day to a consideration of them. They belong to human life. They are inevitable. Brooding only gives them strength.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Life, Men, Giving

  Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Eyes and Ears”, p.233

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• Some folks think that Christianity means a kind of insurance policy, and that it has little to do with this life, but that it is a very good thing when a man dies.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Mean, Thinking, Men

  Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1872). “The Original Plymouth Pulpit: Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn”

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• When young men or women are beginning life, the most important period, it is often said, is that in which their habits are formed. That is a very important period. But the period in which the ideals of the young are formed and adopted is more important still. For the ideal with which you go forward to measure things determines the nature, so far as you are concerned, of everything you meet.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, Important, Habit

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• I know it is more agreeable to walk upon carpets than to lie upon dungeon floors, I know it is pleasant to have all the comforts and luxuries of civilization; but he who cares only for these things is worth no more than a butterfly, contented and thoughtless, upon a morning flower; and who ever thought of rearing a tombstone to a last summer's butterfly?

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Summer, Morning, Tombstone

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.98

  7 Copy quote

• John Wesley quaintly observed that the road to heaven is a narrow path, not intended for wheels, and that to ride in a coach here and to go to heaven hereafter, was a happiness too much for man.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, Heaven, Path

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• You have seen a ship out on the bay, swinging with the tide, and seeming as if it would follow it; and yet it cannot, for down beneath the water it is anchored. So many a soul sways toward heaven, but cannot ascend thither, because it is anchored to some secret sin.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Water, Heaven, Soul

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.12

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• The dog was created specially for children. He is a god of frolic.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Dog, Children, Poodles

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

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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!

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Music, Flower, Rose

  Henry Ward Beecher (1887). “Beecher : Christian Philosopher, Pulpit Orator, Patriot and Philantropist: A Volume of Representative Selections from the Sermons, Lectures, Prayers, and Letters of Henry Ward Beecher”

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• Flattery is praise insincerely given for an interested purpose.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Criticism, Purpose, Flattery

  Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Eyes and ears”, p.383

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• A tool is but the extension of a man's hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. And he that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well-being of mankind.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Power, Men, Hands

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

  60 Copy quote

• Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Life, Faith, Two

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• The monkey is an organized sarcasm upon the human race.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Sarcasm, Science, Race

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

  4 Copy quote

• No matter who reigns, the merchant reigns.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Reign, Matter, Merchants

  Henry Ward Beecher (1859). “New Star Papers: Or, Views and Experiences of Religious Subjects ...”, p.118

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• But there have been human hearts, constituted just like ours, for six thousand years. The same stars rise and set upon this globe that rose upon the plains of Shinar or along the Egyptian Nile and the same sorrows rise and set in every age.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Stars, Heart, Past

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.9

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• Astronomers have built telescopes which can show myriads of stars unseen before; but when a man looks through a tear in his own eye, that is a lens which opens reaches into the unknown, and reveals orbs which no telescope, however skilfully constructed, could do.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Stars, Eye, Men

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.20

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• What profusion is there in His work! When trees blossom there is not a single breastpin, but a whole bosom full of gems; and of leaves they have so many suits that they can throw them away to the winds all summer long. What unnumbered cathedrals has He reared in the forest shades, vast and grand, full of curious carvings, and haunted evermore by tremulous music; and in the heavens above, how do stars seem to have flown out of His hand faster than sparks out of a mighty forge!

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Summer, Nature, Stars

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.59

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• Where human life needs most sympathy, where usually it is the most barren, there it is that Christ is more likely to be found than anywhere else.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Jesus, Needs, Christ

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

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• Riches without law are more dangerous than is poverty without law

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Law, Riches, Poverty

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

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• We are not to make the ideas of contentment and aspiration quarrel, for God made them fast friends. A man may aspire, and yet be quite content until it is time to raise; and both flying and resting are but parts of one contentment. The very fruit of the gospel is aspiration. It is to the heart what spring is to the earth, making every root, and bud, and bough desire to be more.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Spring, Heart, Men

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life thoughts gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, by E.D. Procter”, p.72

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• An ambition which has conscience in it will always be a laborious and faithful engineer, and will build the road, and bridge the chasms between itself and eminent success by the most faithful and minute performances of duty.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Ambition, Bridges, Faithful

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.64

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• The pen is the tongue of the hand; a silent utterer of words for the eye.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Eye, Hands, Tongue

  Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Eyes and Ears”, p.261

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• In a great affliction there is no light either in the stars or in the sun; for when the inward light is fed with fragrant oil; there can be no darkness though the sun should go out. But when, like a sacred lamp in the temple, the inward light is quenched, there is no light outwardly, though a thousand suns should preside in the heavens.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Stars, Light, Oil

  Henry Ward Beecher (1866). “Royal Truths”, p.66

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