Hosea ballou quotes

The experience of others adds to our knowledge, but not to our wisdom; that is dearer bought.

Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable.

Self-respect is the best of all.

Disease is the retribution of outraged Nature.

Obedience and resignation are our personal offerings upon the altar of duty.

Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devil's propagation.

There is no such thing as "best" in the world of individuals.

Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine.

Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible.

There is no immunity from the consequences of sin; punishment is swift and sure to one and all.

A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page.

Lenity has almost always wisdom and justice on its side.

I have somewhere read that conscience not only sits as witness and judge within our bosoms, but also forms the prison of punishment.

To talk of luck and chance only shows how little we really know of the laws which govern cause and effect.

You cannot judge by outward appearances; the soul is only transparent to its Maker.

None but the guilty know the withering pains of repentance.

Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness.

A chaste and lucid style is indicative of the same personal traits in the author.

There is nothing that needs to be said in an unkind manner.

Of all the ingenious mistakes into which erring man has fallen, perhaps none have been so pernicious in their consequences, or have brought so many evils into the world, as the popular opinion that the way of the transgressor is pleasant and easy.

A mother's love, in a degree, sanctifies the most worthless offspring.

Preaching is to much avail, but practice is far more effective. A godly life is the strongest argument you can offer the skeptic.

How can there be pride in a contrite heart? Humility is the earliest fruit of religion.

The law of heaven is love.

Servility is disgusting to a truly noble character, and engenders only contempt.

Mystery and innocence are not akin.

It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice.

Humanity, in the aggregate, is progressing, and philanthropy looks forward hopefully.

Folly is like the growth of weeds, always luxurious and spontaneous; wisdom, like flowers, requires cultivation.

Energy, like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains.

It is my humble prayer that I may be of some use in my day and generation.

How quickly a truly benevolent act is repaid by the consciousness of having done it!

There is no doubt that religious fanatics have done more to prejudice the cause they affect to advocate than have its opponents.

The cloudy weather melts at length into beauty, and the brightest smiles of the heart are born of its tears.

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul; and the heart of man knoweth none more fragrant.

That kind of discipline whose pungent severity is in the manifestations of paternal love, compassion, and tenderness is the most sure of its object.

Hatred is self-punishment. Hatred it the coward's revenge for being intimidated.

Education commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within hearsay of little children tends toward the formation of character.

It is what we give up, not what we lay up, that adds to our lasting store.

Embark on no enterprise which you cannot submit to the test of prayer.

There is no better rule to try a doctrine by than the question, Is it merciful, or is it unmerciful? If its character is that of mercy, it has the image of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

As "unkindness has no remedy at law," let its avoidance be with you a point of honor.

Death comes to us, under many conditions, with all the welcome serenity of sleep.

There is no possible excuse for a guarded lie. Enthusiastic and impulsive people will sometimes falsify thoughtlessly, but equivocation is malice prepense.

Moderation is the key to lasting enjoyment.

Remember, when incited to slander, that it is only he among you who is without sin that may cast the first stone.

Honest and courageous people have very little to say about either their courage or their honesty. The sun has no need to boast of his brightness, nor the moon of her effulgence.

It is in sickness that we most feel the need of that sympathy which shows how much we are dependent upon one another for our comfort, and even necessities. Thus disease, opening our eyes to the realities of life, is an indirect blessing.

Attempt to teach the young but little at a time; this will be easier to impart, easier to receive, and surer to be retained.

The goodness of God to mankind is no less evinced in the chastisement with which He corrects His children than in the smiles of His providence; for the Lord will not cast off forever, but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.

Too many people embrace religion from the same motives that they take a companion in wedlock, not from true love of the person, but because of a large dowry.

The heavens and the earth, the woods and the wayside, teem with instruction and knowledge to the curious and thoughtful.

True repentance also involves reform.

It is easy to be beautiful; it is difficult to appear so.

If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good. Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace.

If our Creator has so bountifully provided for our existence here, which is but momentary, and for our temporal wants, which will soon be forgotten, how much more must He have done for our enjoyment in the everlasting world?

There is one sure criterion of judgment as to religious faith in doctrinal matters; can you reduce it to practice? If not, have none of it.

O sin, how you paint your face! how you flatter us poor mortals on to death! You never appear to the sinner in your true character; you make fair promises, but you never fulfil one; your tongue is smoother than oil, but the poison of asps is under your lip!

It is the nature of intellect to strive to improve in intellectual power.

The eye is inlet to the soul.

Unless we find repose within ourselves, it is vain to seek it elsewhere.

Liberality should be tempered with judgment, not with profuseness.

It is vain to trust in wrong; it is like erecting a building upon a frail foundation, and which will directly be sure to topple over.

Reproof, especially as it relates to children, administered in all gentleness, will render the culprit not afraid, but ashamed to repeat the offence.

Theory, from whatever source, is not perfect until it is reduced to practice.

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

Ministers who threaten death and destruction employ weapons of weakness. Argument and kindness are alone effectual, flavored by the principles of Divine love.

Not the least misfortune in a prominent falsehood is the fact that tradition is apt to repeat it for truth.

We must not only read the Scriptures, but we must make their rules of life our own.

No outward change need trouble him who is inwardly serene.

That alone can be called true refinement which elevates the soul of man, purifying the manners by improving the intellect.

How white are the fair robes of Charity as she walketh amid the lowly habitations of the poor!

As the sun's rays will irradiate even the murky pool, and make its stagnant waters to shine like silver, so doth God's goodness and tender mercy, towards the greatest sinner, and the blackest heart, make his own image visible there!

Some clergymen make a motto, instead of a theme, of their texts.

True repentance always involves reform.

The oppression of any people for opinion's sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important.

The eye is the inlet to the soul, and it is well to beware of him whose visual organs avoid your honest regard.

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.

Hypocrisy is oftenest clothed in the garb of religion.

Duty itself is supreme delight when love is the inducement and labor. By such a principle the ignorant are enlightened, the hard-hearted softened, the disobedient reformed, and the faithful encouraged.

A true religious instinct never deprived man of one single joy; mournful faces and a sombre aspect are the conventional affectations of the weak-minded.

True sympathy is putting ourselves in another's place; and we are moved in proportion to the reality of our imagination.

With regard to manner, be careful to speak in a soft, tender, kind and loving way. Even when you have occasion to rebuke, be careful to do it with manifest kindness. The effect will be incalculably better.

Pretension almost always overdoes the original, and hence exposes itself.

Error is always more busy than truth.

It is the goodly outside that sin puts on which tempteth to destruction. It has been said that sin is like the bee, with honey in its mouth, but a sting in its tail.

Lay silently the injuries you receive upon the altar of oblivion.

Prosperity often presages adversity.

If we are at peace with God and our own conscience, what enemy among men need we fear?

Experience is retrospect knowledge.

A careless and blasphemous use of the name of the Divine Being is not only sinful, but it is also prima facie evidence of vulgar associations.

Our blessings are the least heeded, because the most common events of life.

Obedience sums up our entire duty.

True charity is spontaneous and finds its own occasion; it is never the offspring of importunity, nor of emulation.

Man, being not only a religious, but also a social being, requires for the promotion of his rational happiness religious institutions, which, while they give a proper direction to devotion, at the same time make a wise and profitable improvement of his social feelings.

Faith, in order to be genuine and of any real value, must be the offspring of that divine love which Jesus manifested when He prayed for His enemies on the cross.

Hatred is self-punishment.

The severest punishment suffered by a sensitive mind, for injury inflicted upon another, is the consciousness of having done it.

Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.

Purity in person and in morals is true godliness.

No one has a greater asset for his business than a man's pride in his work.

Has not God borne with you these many years? Be ye tolerant to others.

There is one court whose findings are incontrovertible, and whose sessions are held in the chambers of our own breast.

A wise Providence consoles our present afflictions by joys borrowed from the future.

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage.

No reproof or denunciation is so potent as the silent influence of a good example.

Most people who commit a sin count on some personal benefit to be derived therefrom, but profanity has not even this excuse.

It is better to be the builder of our own name than to be indebted by descent for the proudest gifts known to the books of heraldry.

Few things in this world more trouble people than poverty, or the fear of poverty; and, indeed, it is a sore affliction; but, like all other ills that flesh is heir to, it has its antidote, its reliable remedy. The judicious application of industry, prudence and temperance is a certain cure.

Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams.

It is very questionable, in my mind, how far we have the right to judge one of another, since there is born within every man the germs of both virtue and vice. The development of one or the other is contingent upon circumstances.

The act of divine worship is the inestimable privilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration.

Be more careful of your conscience than of your estate. The latter can be bought and sold; the former never.

Envy may justly be called "the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity;" it is the most acid fruit that grows on the stock of sin, a fluid so subtle that nothing but the fire of divine love can purge it from the soul.

If gratitude is due from children to their earthly parent, how much more is the gratitude of the great family of men due to our father in heaven.

Doubt that creed which you cannot reduce to practice.

Be circumspect in your dealings, and let the seed you plant be the offspring of prudence and care; thus fruit follows the fair blossom, as honor follows a good life.

All our possessions are as nothing compared to health, strength, and a clear conscience.

Obedience, as it regards the social relations, the rules of society, and the laws of nature and nature's God, should commence at the cradle and end only at the tomb.

Between the humble and contrite heart and the majesty of Heaven there are no barriers; the only password is prayer.

It is a glorious occupation, vivifying and self-sustaining in its nature, to struggle with ignorance, and discover to the inquiring minds of the masses the clear cerulean blue of heavenly truth.

Prosperity seems to be scarcely safe, unless it be mixed with a little adversity.

Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.

Rage is mental imbecility.

A good smile is the sunshine of wisdom.