Hosea Ballou Quotes

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

Lenity has almost always wisdom and justice on its side.

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.

Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.

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!

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.

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.

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

True repentance always involves reform.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Doubt that creed which you cannot reduce to practice.

Purity in person and in morals is true godliness.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

None but the guilty know the withering pains of repentance.

No outward change need trouble him who is inwardly serene.