JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

The love of our private friends is the only preparatory exercise for the love of all men.

Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it.

It is almost the definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain.

It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.

We must make up our minds to be ignorant of much, if we would know anything.

A great memory does not make a mind, any more than a dictionary is a piece of literature.

A great memory is never made synonymous with wisdom, any more than a dictionary would be called a treatise.

If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar.

Calculation never made a hero.

Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.

Growth is the only evidence of life.

If we are intended for great ends, we are called to great hazards.

There is such a thing as legitimate warfare: war has its laws; there are things which may fairly be done, and things which may not be done.

Virtue is its own reward, and brings with it the truest and highest pleasure; but if we cultivate it only for pleasure's sake, we are selfish, not religious, and will never gain the pleasure, because we can never have the virtue.

To holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport. His name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living.

It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing.

Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.

Men will die upon dogma but will not fall victim to a conclusion.

We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.

From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery.

To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.

It is very difficult to get up resentment towards persons whom one has never seen.

Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not... We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.

Ability is sexless.