Joseph Hall Quotes

Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues.

A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.

For every bad there might be a worse; and when one breaks his leg let him be thankful it was not his neck.

The proud man hath no God; the envious man hath no neighbor; the angry man hath not himself.

Fools measure actions, after they are done, by the event; wise men beforehand, by the rules of reason and right. The former look to the end, to judge of the act. Let me look to the act, and leave the end with God.

Every day is a little life, and our whole life is but a day repeated. Therefore live every day as if it would be the last. Those that dare lose a day, are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it are desperate.

It is not sin that kills the soul, but impenitence.

Try to be of some use to others.

We must first pray, that God would make us wise; before we can wish, he would make us happy.

What I have done is worthy of nothing but silence and forgetfulness, but what God has done for me is worthy of everlasting and thankful memory.

It is not the bee's touching on the flowers that gathers the honey, but her abiding for a time upon them, and drawing out the sweet.

Let others either envy or pity me; I care not, so long as I enjoy myself.

Let me know myself; let others guess at me.

If the sun of God's countenance shine upon me, I may well be content to be wet with the rain of affliction.

Seldom was any knowledge given to keep, but to impart; the grace of this rich jewel is lost in concealment.

Even the best things ill used become evils; and, contrarily, the worst things used well prove good.

Words are as they are taken, and things are as they are used. There are even cursed blessings.

Nothing fools people as much as extreme passion.

Christian society is like a bundle of sticks laid together, whereof one kindles another. Solitary men have fewest provocations to evil, but, again, fewest incitations to good. So much as doing good is better than not doing evil will I account Christian good-fellowship better than an hermitish and melancholy solitariness.

Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the grave.

Satan would seem to be mannerly and reasonable; making as if he would be content with one-half of the heart, whereas God challengeth all or none: as, indeed, He hath most reason to claim all that made all. But this is nothing but a crafty fetch of Satan; for he knows that if he have any part, God will have none: so the whole falleth to his share alone.

How endless is that volume which God hath written of the world! Every creature is a letter, every day a new page.

Rich people should consider that they are only trustees for what they possess, and should show their wealth to be more in doing good than merely in having it. They should not reserve their benevolence for purposes after they are dead, for those who give not of their property till they die show that they would not then if they could keep it any longer.

A good man is kinder to his enemy than bad men are to their friends.

I have seldom seen much ostentation and much learning met together. The sun, rising and declining, makes long shadows; at mid day, when he is highest, none at all.