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Henry Ward Beecher Quotes - Page 21

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The mystery of history is an insoluble problem.

The mystery of history is an insoluble problem.

Henry Ward Beecher
History, Mystery, Problem
Henry Ward Beecher (1871). “Plymouth Pulpit: A Weekly Publication of Sermons Preached by Henry Ward Beecher”, p.469

If there be any one whose power is in beauty, in purity, in goodness, it is a woman.

Henry Ward Beecher
Women, Purity, Goodness
Henry Ward Beecher (1872). “One Thousand Gems”, p.154

Human life is God's outer church. Its needs and urgencies are priests and pastors.

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

Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety,--all this rust of life, ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth. It is better than emery. Every man ought to rub himself with it. A man without mirth is like a wagon without springs, in which one is caused disagreeably to jolt by every pebble over which it runs.

Henry Ward Beecher
Running, Spring, Men
Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Royal truths”, p.241

Providence is but another name for natural law. Natural law itself would go out in a minute if it were not for the divine thought that is behind it.

Henry Ward Beecher
Law, Names, Natural
Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1872). “The Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn”, p.118

Self-denial does not belong to religion as characteristic of it; it belongs to human life; the lower nature must always be denied when you are trying to rise to a higher sphere.

Henry Ward Beecher
Self, Trying, Doe
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.124

The indolent mind is not empty, but full of vermin.

Henry Ward Beecher
Mind, Empty, Vermin

It is a higher exhibition of Christian manliness to be able to bear trouble than to get rid of it.

Henry Ward Beecher
Christian, Exhibitions, Able
Henry Ward Beecher (1871). “Morning and Evening Exercises: Selected from the Published and Unpublished Writings”, p.96

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

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

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”

Heaven will be inherited by every man who has heaven in his soul.

Henry Ward Beecher
Inspiration, Humor, Men
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.109

Theology is a science of mind applied to God.

Henry Ward Beecher
War, Mind, Science And Religion
Henry Ward Beecher (1866). “Royal truths”, p.53

God is like us to this extent, that whatever in us is good is like God.

Henry Ward Beecher
God
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.29

Some men are, in regard to ridicule, like tin-roofed buildings in regard to hail: all that hits them bounds rattling off; not a stone goes through.

Henry Ward Beecher
Men, Tin, Stones
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.165

Anger is a bow that will shoot sometimes where another feeling will not.

Henry Ward Beecher
Feelings, Bows, Sometimes
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.104

It is not desirable that we should live as in the constant atmosphere and presence of death; that would unfit us for life; but it is well for us, now and then, to talk with death as friend talketh with friend, and to bathe in the strange seas, and to anticipate the experiences of that land to which it will lead us. These forethinkings are meant, not to make us discontented with life, but to bring us back with more strength, and a nobler purpose in living.

Henry Ward Beecher
Sea, Land, Atmosphere
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.127

There is nothing which vanity does not desecrate.

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

No man rides so high and in such good company as the man that allies himself to a truth.

Henry Ward Beecher
Truth, Men, Allies
Henry Ward Beecher (1866). “Royal truths”, p.229

Some people are so dry that you might soak them in a joke for a month and it would not get through their skins.

Henry Ward Beecher
Time, Humor, People
Henry Ward Beecher, Eleanor Kirk (1887). “Beecher as a Humorist: Selections from the Published Works of Henry Ward Beecher”

As flowers carry dewdrops, trembling on the edges of the petals, and ready to fall at the first waft of wind or brush of bird, so the heart should carry its beaded words of thanksgiving; and at the first breath of heavenly flavor, let down the shower, perfumed with the heart's gratitude.

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

That is the best baptism that leaves the man cleanest inside.

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

Men will imitate and admire his unmoved firmness, his inflexible conscience for the right; and yet his gentleness, as tender as a woman's, his moderation of spirit, which not all the heat of party could inflame, nor all the jars and disturbances of this country shake out of its place: I swear you to an emulation of his justice, his moderation, and his mercy.

Henry Ward Beecher
Country, Party, Men

Our children that die young are like those spring bulbs which have their flowers prepared beforehand, and leave nothing to do but to break ground, and blossom, and pass away. Thank God for spring flowers among men, as well as among the grasses of the field.

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

Many men are stored full of unused knowledge. Like loaded guns that are never fired off, or military magazines in times of peace, they are stuffed with useless ammunition.

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

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