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Henry Ward Beecher Quotes - Page 34

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Refinement is the lifting of one's self upwards from the merely sensual; the effort of the soul to etherealize the common wants and uses of life.

Refinement is the lifting of one's self upwards from the merely sensual; the effort of the soul to etherealize the common wants and uses of life.

Henry Ward Beecher
Self, Effort, Soul
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.173

Never excuse yourself.

Henry Ward Beecher
Ballet, Excuse

A man's religion is himself. If he is right-minded toward God, he is religious; if the Lord Jesus Christ is his schoolmaster, then he is Christianly religious.

Henry Ward Beecher
Religious, Jesus, Men

All the sobriety which' religion needs or requires is that which real earnestness produces.

Henry Ward Beecher
Real, Sobriety, Religion
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.100

All true religion must stand on true morality.

Henry Ward Beecher
Religion, Morality, True Religion
Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

By religion I mean perfected manhood,--the quickening of the soul by the influence of the Divine Spirit.

Henry Ward Beecher
Mean, Soul, Religion

Of all joyful, smiling, ever-laughing experiences, there are none like those which spring from true religion.

Henry Ward Beecher
Spring, Laughing, Religion
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.124

It's not work that kills [people], it is worry.

Henry Ward Beecher
Happiness, People, Worry

Like a bird she seems to wear gay plumage unconsciously, as if it grew upon her.

Henry Ward Beecher
Gay, Bird, Grew
Henry Ward Beecher (1862). “Eyes and Ears”, p.327

Socially we are woven into the fabric of society, where every man is like one thread in a piece of cloth. No single thread has a right to say, "I will stay here no longer," and draw out. No man has a right to make a hole in the well-woven fabric of society.

Henry Ward Beecher
Men, Woven, Fabric
Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

Only have enough of little virtues and common fidelities, and you need not mourn because you are neither a hero nor a saint.

Henry Ward Beecher
Hero, Saint, Needs
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.74

A republican government in a hundred points is weaker than an autocratic government; but in this one point it is the strongest that ever existed — it has educated a race of men that are men.

Henry Ward Beecher
Inspirational, Education, Men
"Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit".

All things in the natural world symbolize God, yet none of them speak of him but in broken and imperfect words. High above all he sits, sublimer than mountains, grander than storms, sweeter than blossoms and tender fruits, nobler than lords, truer than parents, more loving than lovers. His feet tread the lowest places of the earth; but his head is above all glory, and everywhere he is supreme.

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

One might as well attempt to calculate mathematically the contingent forms of the tinkling bits of glass in a kaleidoscope as to look through the tube of the future and foretell its pattern.

Henry Ward Beecher
Future, Glasses, Looks
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.13

Perverted pride is a great misfortune in men; but pride in its original function, for which God created it, is indispensable to a proper manhood.

Henry Ward Beecher
Pride, Men, Function
Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

God made every man to have power to be mightier than the events round about him; to hold by his firm will the reigns by which all things are guided.

Henry Ward Beecher
Men, Events, Reign
Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

It is often said it is no matter what a man believes if he is only sincere. This is true of all minor truths, and false of all truths whose nature it is to fashion a man's life. It will make no difference in a man's harvest whether he thinks turnips have more saccharine matter than potatoes--whether corn is better than wheat. But let the man sincerely believe that seed planted without ploughing is as good as with, that January is as favorable for seed sowing as April, and that cockle seed will produce as good a harvest as wheat, and will it make no difference?

Henry Ward Beecher
Fashion, Believe, Men
henry ward beecher (1858). “life thoughts,”, p.16

You have seen a ship out on the bay, swinging with the tide, and seeming as if it would follow it; and yet it cannot, for down beneath the water it is anchored. So many a soul sways toward heaven, but cannot ascend thither, because it is anchored to some secret sin.

Henry Ward Beecher
Water, Heaven, Soul
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.12

Like waves, our feelings may continue by repeating themselves, by intermittent rushes; but no emotion any more than a wave can long retain its own individual form.

Henry Ward Beecher
Long, Feelings, May
Henry Ward Beecher (1897). “The Original Plymouth Pulpit: Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn”

Good nature is often a mere matter of health.

Henry Ward Beecher
Matter, Goodness, Good Nature
Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

The last person one wants to be is themselves. Sadly, that is the best person to be.

Henry Ward Beecher
Confidence, Want, Lasts

Now, men think, with regard to their conduct, that, if they were to lift themselves up gigantically and commit some crashing sin, they should never be able to hold up their heads; but they will harbor in their souls little sins, which are piercing and eating them away to inevitable ruin.

Henry Ward Beecher
Thinking, Men, Soul
henry ward beecher (1858). “life thoughts,”, p.11

The grossest, the cruelest, the most selfish, the most easily pervertible and perverted thing in this world, is government.

Henry Ward Beecher
Selfish, Government, World
Henry Ward Beecher (1871). “The Plymouth pulpit. Sermons preached in Plymouth church, Brooklyn”, p.227

Men who neglect Christ, and try to win heaven through moralities, are like sailors at sea in a storm, who pull, some at the bowsprit and some at the mainmast, but never touch the helm.

Henry Ward Beecher
Winning, Men, Sea
henry ward beecher (1858). “life thoughts,”, p.13

A week filled up with selfishness, and the Sabbath stuffed full of religious exercises, will make a good Pharisee, but a poor Christian. There are many persons who think Sunday is a sponge with which to wipe out the sins of the week. Now, God's altar stands from Sunday to Sunday, and the seventh day is no more for religion than any other. It is for rest. The whole seven are for religion, and one of them for rest.

Henry Ward Beecher
Christian, Religious, Exercise
Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.8

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