Henry Ward Beecher Quotes - Page 20

• The world's battlefields have been in the heart chiefly; more heroism has been displayed in the household and the closet, than on the most memorable battlefields in history.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Memorable, Heart, History

  54 Copy quote

• There is no greater crime than to stand between a man and his development; to take any law or institution and put it around him like a collar, and fasten it there, so that as he grows and enlarges, he presses against it till he suffocates and dies.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Education, Men, Law

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.89

  4 Copy quote

• To the covetous man life is a nightmare, and God lets him wrestle with it as best he may.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, May, Nightmare

  Henry Ward Beecher (1871). “Lectures to young men, on various important subjects”, p.87

  6 Copy quote

• Ordinarily rivers run small at the beginning, grow broader and broader as they proceed, and become widest and deepest at the point, where they enter the sea. It is such rivers that the Christian's life is like. But the life of the mere worldly man is like those rivers in Southern Africa, which, proceeding from mountain freshets, are broad and deep at the beginning, and grow narrower and more shallow as they advance. They waster themselves by soaking into the sands, and at last they die out entirely. The farther they run the less there is of them.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Christian, Running, Men

  4 Copy quote

• Good-nature is one of the richest fruits of true Christianity.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Fruit, Christianity, Good Nature

  Henry Ward Beecher (1871). “Plymouth Pulpit: A Weekly Publication of Sermons Preached by Henry Ward Beecher”, p.410

  8 Copy quote

• Selfishness at the expense of others happiness is demonism.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Others Happiness, Selfishness, Expenses

  Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1872). “The Original Plymouth Pulpit: Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn”, p.243

  12 Copy quote

• A grindstone that had not grit in it, how long would it take to sharpen an ax? And affairs that had not grit in them, how long would they take to make a man?

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Time, War, Men

  18 Copy quote

• Newspapers are the schoolmasters of the common people.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  People, Common, Newspapers

  Henry Ward Beecher (1879). “Twelve Lectures to Young Men: On Various Important Subjects”

  7 Copy quote

• If you have only two or three things that you can enjoy and they are things which time and decay may remove from you, what are you going to do in old age?

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Time, Two, Age

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Cobbett (1830). “Advice to Young Men”

  4 Copy quote

• If there's a job to be done, I always ask the busiest man in my parish to take it on and it gets done.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Jobs, Men, Done

  4 Copy quote

• The poor man with industry is happier than the rich man in idleness.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Work, Men, Rich

  Henry Ward Beecher (1850). “Industry and idleness: with causes of dishonesty : to which are appended six warnings”, p.16

  7 Copy quote

• The natural term of an apple-pie is but twelve hours. It reaches its highest state about one hour after it comes from the oven, and just before its natural heat has quite departed. But every hour afterward is a declension. And after it is one day old, it is thence-forward but the ghastly corpse of apple-pie.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Food, Apples, Pie

  Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Eyes and ears”, p.238

  5 Copy quote

• The dog is the god of frolic.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Dog, War, Animal

  8 Copy quote

• Education is the knowledge of how to use the whole of oneself. Many men use but one or two faculties out of the score with which they are endowed. A man is educated who knows how to make a tool of every faculty, how to open it, how to keep it sharp, and how to apply it to all practical purposes.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Education, Teaching, Men

  8 Copy quote

• Many men build as cathedrals are built-the part nearest the ground finished, but that part which soars toward heaven, the turrets and the spires, forever incomplete.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, Forever, Heaven

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life thoughts gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, by E.D. Procter”, p.99

  8 Copy quote

• Nobody ever sees truth except in fragments.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Truth, Fragments

  Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1871). “The original Plymouth pulpit”

  9 Copy quote

• Life is a plant that grows out of death.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Life, Plant, Grows

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

  8 Copy quote

• Like the cellar-growing vine is the Christian who lives in the darkness and bondage of fear. But let him go forth, with the liberty of God, into the light of love, and he will be like the plant in the field, healthy, robust, and joyful.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Christian, Light, Healthy

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.157

  11 Copy quote

• If God but cares for our inward and eternal life, if by all the experiences of this life He is reducing it and preparing for its disclosure, nothing can befall us but prosperity. Every sorrow shall be but the setting of some luminous jewel of joy. Our very morning shall be but the enamel around the diamond; our very hardships but the metallic rim that holds the opal, glancing with strange interior fires.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Morning, Fire, Jewels

  14 Copy quote

• Mirthfulness is in the mind, and you cannot get it out. It is the blessed spirit that God has set in the mind to dust it, to enliven its dark places, and to drive asceticism, like a foul fiend, out at the back door. It is just as good, in its place, as conscience or veneration. Praying can no more be made a substitute for smiling than smiling can for praying.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Blessed, Dark, Doors

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.74

  4 Copy quote

• The aster has not wasted spring and summer because it has not blossomed. It has been all the time preparing for what is to follow, and in autumn it is the glory of the field, and only the frost lays it low. So there are many people who must live forty or fifty years, and have the crude sap of their natural dispositions changed and sweetened before the blossoming time can come; but their lives have not been wasted.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Summer, Spring, Autumn

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.73

  12 Copy quote

• Death is not an end. It is a new impulse.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Death, Ends, Impulse

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Cobbett (1830). “Advice to Young Men”

  10 Copy quote

• It is sometimes of God's mercy that men in the eager pursuit of worldly aggrandizement are baffled; for they are very like a train going down an inclined plane - putting on the brake is not pleasant, but it keeps the car on the track.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Disappointment, Track, Car

  "Life Thoughts, Gathered from the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, by One of His Congregation". Book edited by Edna Dean Proctor, 1859.

  14 Copy quote

• The great men of earth are the shadow men, who, having lived and died, now live again and forever through their undying thoughts. Thus living, though their footfalls are heard no more, their voices are louder than the thunder, and unceasing as the flow of tides or air.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Greatness, Men, Air

  7 Copy quote

• Not thine the sorrow, but ours, sainted soul! Thou hast indeed entered into the promised land, while we are yet on the march. To us remain the rocking of the deep, the storm upon the land, days of duty and nights of watching; but thou are sphered high above all darkness and fear, beyond all sorrow and weariness. Rest, oh, weary heart!

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Heart, Night, Land

  5 Copy quote

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