Quotes to inspire and reflect

If a man will kick a fact out of the window, when he comes back he finds it again in the chimney corner.

In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled.

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot-stove lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.

A strong and well-constituted man digests his experiences (deeds and misdeeds) just as he digests his meats, even when he has some tough morsels to swallow.

Experience has two things to teach: the first, that we must correct a great deal; the second, that we must not correct too much.

One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.

To most men, experience is like the stern lights of a ship, which illumine only the track it has passed.

Expectation improperly indulged in must end in disappointment.

Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, meet the expectation.

To rest in the arms of perfection is the desire of any man intent upon creating excellence.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light.

Example moves the world more than doctrine. The great exemplars are the poets of action, and it makes little difference whether they be forces for good or forces for evil.

A superior who works on his own development sets an almost irresistible example.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.

Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become one himself. And when you stare for a long time into an abyss, the abyss stares back into you.

No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.

The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and reason.

With Pleasure own your Errors past, And make each day a Critic on the last.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

Generally speaking, the errors of religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.

and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.

A show of envy is an insult to oneself.

We often pride ourselves on even the most criminal passions, but envy is a timid and shame-faced passion we never dare acknowledge.

An envious heart makes a treacherous ear.

The envious die not once, but as often as the envied win applause.

Envy is a littleness of soul, which cannot see beyond a certain point, and if it does not occupy the whole space, feels itself excluded.

Hearts are flowers; they remain open to the softly-falling dew, but shut up in the violent downpour of rain.

Few men have the strength of character to rejoice in a friend’s success without a touch of envy.

It is an easy thing for one whose foot Is on the outside of calamity to give advice.

The brain may take advice, but not the heart.

Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is the triumph of some enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm is the great hill-climber.

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.

For what is enthusiasm but the oblivion and swallowing-up of self in an object dearer than self?

There is no such thing as “the Queen’s English.” The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares!

English, no longer an English language, now grows from many roots; and those whom it once colonized are carving out large territories within the language for themselves. The Empire is striking back.

I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven.

It is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be in the grasp of superficially educated people.

Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand.

Eloquence is a painting of thought.

Eloquence is feeling pouring itself to other minds, courting their sympathy.

Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself and not for its substance.

Eloquence, when at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection; but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understanding.

Eloquence lies as much in the tone of the voice, in the eyes, and in the speaker’s manner, as in his choice of words.