JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE

Strong convictions precede great actions.

Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.

All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.

We are either progressing or retrograding all the while. There is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life.

Never hurry. Take plenty of exercise. Always be cheerful. Take all the sleep you need. You may expect to be well.

The atheist has no hope.

I can do small things in a great way.

See to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you.

A politician thinks of the next election; the statesman thinks of the next generation

All the strength and force of man come from his faith in things unseen.

When we trust our brother, whom we have seen, we are learning to trust God, whom we have not seen.

Art itself, in all its methods, is the child of religion. The highest and best works in architecture, sculpture and painting, poetry and music, have been born out of the religion of Nature.

Progress, in the sense of acquisition, is something; but progress in the sense of being, is a great deal more. To grow higher, deeper, wider, as the years go on; to conquer difficulties, and acquire more and more power; to feel all one's faculties unfolding, and truth descending into the soul,--this makes life worth living.

Amid all change, we desire something permanent; amid all variety, something stable; amid all progress, some central unity of life; something which deepens as we ascend; which roots itself as we advance; which grows more and more tenacious of the old, while becoming more and more open to the new.

It may make a difference to all eternity whether we do right or wrong today.

It is no natural for a man to pray that no theory can prevent him from doing it.

The art of life consists in taking each event which befalls us with a contented mind, confident of good. ... With this method ... rejoice always, though in the midst of sorrows, and possess all things, though destitute of everything.

He who believes in goodness has the essence of all faith. He is a man of cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows.

One of the best things in the gospel of Jesus is the stress it lays on small things. It ascribes more value to quality than to quantity; it teaches that God does not ask how much we do, but how we do it.

Unmixed praise is not due to any one. It leaves behind a sense of unreality. We can only do justice to a great man by a discriminating criticism. Hero-worship, which paints a faultless monster, whom the world never saw, is like those modern pictures which are a blaze of light without any shadow.

Submission to duty and God gives the highest energy. He, who has done the greatest work on earth, said that He came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him, Whoever allies himself with God is armed with all the forces of the invisible world.

Whenever we do what we can, we immediately can do more.

Manliness means perfect manhood, as womanliness implies perfect womanhood. Manliness is the character of a man as he ought to be, as he was meant to be.

Take thy self-denials gaily and cheerfully, and let the sunshine of thy gladness fall on dark things and bright alike, like the sunshine of the Almighty.

Even where there is talent, culture, knowledge, if there is not earnestness, it does not go to the root of things.