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Henry Ward Beecher Quotes - Page 29

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A door that seems to stand open must be of a man's size, or it is not the door that providence means for him.

A door that seems to stand open must be of a man's size, or it is not the door that providence means for him.

Henry Ward Beecher
Inspirational, Mean, Opportunity
Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

I would much rather fight pride than vanity, because pride has a stand-up way of fighting. You know where it is. It throws its black shadow on you, and you are not at a loss where to strike. But vanity is that delusive, that insectiferous, that multiplied feeling, and men that fight vanities are like men that fight midges and butterflies. It is easier to chase them than to hit them.

Henry Ward Beecher
Butterfly, Fighting, Pride
Henry Ward Beecher (1866). “Royal truths”, p.145

Going out into life--that is dying. Christ is the door out of life.

Henry Ward Beecher
Death, Doors, Dying
Henry Ward Beecher (1872). “One Thousand Gems”, p.363

Trouble teaches men how much there is in manhood.

Henry Ward Beecher
Men, Trouble, Teach
Henry Ward Beecher (1872). “Plymouth Pulpit: A Weekly Publication of Sermons Preached by Henry Ward Beecher”, p.424

Love is the wine of existence. When you have taken that, you have taken the most precious drop that there is in the cluster.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Taken, Wine
Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1872). “The Original Plymouth Pulpit: Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn”, p.47

Love, in this world, is like a seed taken from the tropics, and planted where the winter comes too soon; and it cannot spread itself in flower-clusters and wide-twining vines, so that the whole air is filled with the perfume thereof. But there is to be another summer for it yet. Care for the root now, and God will care for the top by and by.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Summer, Flower
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.43

Our earthly loves are but so many silver steps leading us up to the great golden love of God.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Golden, Steps
Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1897). “The original Plymouth pulpit”

Nothing goes far which has not the wings of love to make it buoyant, so that it can fly.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Wings, Wings Of Love
Henry Ward Beecher (1870). “Lecture-room Talks: A Series of Familiar Discourses on Themes of General Christian Experience”, p.3

Love is the medicine of all moral evil. By it the world is to be cured of sin.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Medicine, Evil
Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1897). “The original Plymouth pulpit”

There is not on earth so base a knave as the man who wins the love of a woman when he knows that he cannot or ought not to requite it.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Winning, Men

Loving is like music. Some instruments can go up two octaves, some four, and some all the way from black thunder to sharp lightning. As some of them are susceptible only of melody, so some hearts can sing but one song of love, while others will fun in a full choral harmony.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Song, Fun
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.113

Earthly love is a brief and penurious stream, which only flows in spring, with a long summer drought. The change from a burning desert, treeless, springless, drear, to green fields and blooming orchards in June, is slight in comparison with that from the desert of this world's affection to the garden of God, where there is perpetual, tropical luxuriance of blessed love.

Henry Ward Beecher
Love, Summer, Spring
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.24

If we are like Christ, we shall seek, not to absorb, but to reflect the light which falls upon others, and thus we shall become pure and spotless.

Henry Ward Beecher
Fall, Light, Christ
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.69

I would rather speak the truth to ten men than blandishments and lying to a million. Try it, ye who think there is nothing in it! Try what it is to speak with God behind you, to speak so as to be only the arrow in the bow which the Almighty draws.

Henry Ward Beecher
Truth, Lying, Men
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.78

Public sentiment is to public officers what water is to the wheel of the mill.

Henry Ward Beecher
Water, Wheels, Politician
Henry Ward Beecher (1863). “Freedom and War: Discourses on Topics Suggested by the Times”, p.302

There is no right more universal and more sacred, because lying so near the root of existence, than the right of men to their own labor.

Henry Ward Beecher
Lying, Men, Roots
Henry Ward Beecher (1863). “Freedom and War: Discourses on Topics Suggested by the Times”, p.320, Gale Cengage Learning

Expedients are for an hour, but principles are for the ages. Just because the rains descend and winds blow, we cannot afford to build on shifting sands.

Henry Ward Beecher
Rain, Blow, Wind
"Freedom and War: Discourses on Topics Suggested by the Times".

Education will not come of itself; it will never come unless you seek it; it will not come unless you take the first steps which lead to it; but, taking these steps, every man can acquire it.

Henry Ward Beecher
Inspiring, Education, Men
Henry Ward Beecher (1875). “The Plymouth Pulpit: Sermons Preached in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn”

When leisure is a selfish luxury, its very activity, when it stirs, is apt to be only a kind of indolence taking exercise, that it may the better digest its selfishness.

Henry Ward Beecher
Selfish, Exercise, Luxury
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.39

There is not a heart but has its moments of longing, yearning for something better; nobler; holier than it knows now.

Henry Ward Beecher
Heart, Longing, Moments
"Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers". Book by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 15, 1895.

A library is but the soul's burial ground; it is the land of shadows. Yet one is impressed with the thought, the labor, and the struggle, represented in this vast catacomb of books. Who could dream, by the placid waters that issue from the level mouths of brooks into the lake, all the plunges, the whirls, the divisions, and foaming rushes that had brought them down to the tranquil exit? And who can guess through what channels of disturbance, and experiences of sorrow, the heart passed that has emptied into this Dead Sea of books?

Henry Ward Beecher
Dream, Struggle, Book
Henry Ward Beecher (1855). “Star Papers: Or, Experiences of Art and Nature”, p.54, New York : Boston : J.C. Derby ; Phillips, Sampson & Company

It takes a man to make a devil; and the fittest man for such a purpose is a snarling, waspish, red-hot, fiery creditor.

Henry Ward Beecher
Men, Evil, Hot
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.112

Life is full of amusement to an amusing man.

Henry Ward Beecher
Life, Men, Amusing
Henry Ward Beecher, Eleanor Kirk (1887). “Beecher as a Humorist: Selections from the Published Works of Henry Ward Beecher”

A lie always needs a truth for a handle to it. The worst lies are those whose blade is false, but whose handle is true.

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

There never was a liar that had not a spot in him where he could not help admiring truth.

Henry Ward Beecher
Liars, Lying, Helping
Henry Ward Beecher, Truman Jeremiah Ellinwood (1897). “The original Plymouth pulpit”

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