Julia Ward Howe Quotes

Beneath all differences of doctrine or discipline there exists a fundamental agreement as to the simple, absolute essentials in religion.

How utterly are one's best thoughts invaded by this going out in society.

The frozen ocean... of Boston life.

When I behold the passion for ornamentation, and the corresponding power, I feel as if women had so far shown what they are bad for, rather than what they are good for.

I have never known my husband to approve any act of mine which I myself valued.

Theology in general seems to me a substitution of human ingenuity for divine wisdom.

God forgive me if I do wrong in following with ardor the strongest instincts of my nature.

I shall stick to my resolution of writing always what I think no matter whom it offends.

Every newly discovered truth judges the world, separates the good from the evil, and calls on faithful souls to make sure of their election.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: / He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.

I am confirmed in my division of human energies. Ambitious people climb, but faithful people build.

When the unwelcome little unborn shall have seen the light my brain will be lightened, and I shall have a clearer mind. Thank God that even this weary nine months shall come to an end and leave me in possession of my own body and my own soul.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace.

Heaven knows what I have not been through with, since I saw you-dust, dirt, dyspepsia, hotels, railroads, prairies, tobacco juice.

Don't you think that the best things are already in view?

Every life has its actual blanks, which the ideal must fill up, or which else remain bare & profitless forever.

In Virgil's account of the good housewife, who rises early in order to measure out the work of the household, and in Solomon's description of the thrifty woman of his time, one sees the value set upon feminine industry and economy in times far removed from our own.

I sometimes think God allows Great Britain to be unprincipled for the good of mankind.

The language of the face is not taught by the schools; it is intuitive, and to the observant is always legible.

Much of the work of every life is done in the dark.

When I see the elaborate study and ingenuity displayed by women in the pursuit of trifles, I feel no doubt of their capacity for the most herculean undertakings.

Education keeps the key of life; and liberal education insures the first conditions of freedom,--namely, adequate knowledge and accustomed thought.

My children are babies and my husband has scarcely half an hour in 24 to give me.

Many a woman will pass for elegant in a ballroom, or even at a court drawing room, whose want of true breeding would become evident in a chosen company.

The reason why education is usually so poor among women of fashion is, that it is not needed for the life which they elect to lead.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
 all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

The broken eggshell of a civilization which time has hatched and devoured.

Boston is an oasis in the desert, a place where the larger proportion of people are loving, rational and happy.

The greatest evils of society are goods that have refused to go on, but have sat down on the highway, saying to the world, "We stop here; do you stop also.

As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free.

We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

Politeness induces morality. Serenity of manners requires serenity of mind.

I was born 'neath a clouded star.

While your life is the true expression of your faith, whom can you fear?

Massachusetts women as a rule adhere too strongly to old-time conventions.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord -

I know not why there is such a melancholy feeling attached to the remembrance of past happiness, except that we fear that the future can have nothing so bright as the past.

Hope died as I was led unto my marriage bed.

I think nothing is religion which puts one individual absolutely above others, and surely nothing is religion which puts one sex above another.

It is not good for beauty that it should be a profession.

All the sugar was in the bottom of the cup.

Any religion which will sacrifice a certain set of human beings for the enjoyment or aggrandizement or advantage of another is no religion. It is a thing which may be allowed, but it is against true religion. Any religion which sacrifices women to the brutality of men is no religion.

Life is like a cup of tea, the sugar is all at the bottom!

It is always legitimate to wish to rise above one's self, never above others.

The blind must not only be fed and housed and cared for; they must learn to make thir lives useful to the community.

It has been strange to me to return to life and to feel that I have any sympathy with human beings, after the long interval of quiet and indifference which succeeded my marriage.

I never could be good when I was not happy.

Every fallen woman represents a man as guilty as herself, who escapes human detection, but whose soul lies open before God.