Self-sacrifice of one innocent man is a million times more potent than the sacrifice of a million men who die in the act of killing others.
Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.
At an expense trifling indeed, compared to what she frequently spends upon unprofitable contests, she might place the moral world on a new foundation, and to rise the pinnacle of moral glory.
Character has more effect than anything else. Let a number of loud-talking men take up a particular question, and one man of character, of known integrity and beauty of soul, will outweigh them all in his influence.
One person of integrity can make a difference.
No poetry that I'm aware of, however bad or glorious, has ever left somebody a worse person than they were before they read it.
the heart of religion is not altered states but altered traits of character. For me, then, the test of a substance's religious worth or validity is not what kind of far-out experience it can produce, but is the life improved by its use? That's the test. Now, on that score, if you remove the "religious cocoon," the experiences don't seem to have much in the way of discernible, traceable effects.
The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favor of its truth.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston
As a general truth, it is safe to say that any picture that produces a moral impression is a bad picture.
The value of art lies in its power to increase our moral force or establish its heightening influence.
If Art does not enlarge men's sympathies, it does nothing morally.
Believing in Hell must distort every judgement on this life.
Children's reading and children's thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion, writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential for good or evil than any other form of literature on earth.
Thou mayest rule over sin,' Lee. That's it. I do not believe all men are destroyed. I can name you a dozen who were not, and they are the ones the world lives by. It is true of the spirit as it is true of battles — only the winners are remembered.
The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind; but the odor of good people travels; even against the wind: a good man pervades every place.
Wherever God's word is circulated, it stirs the hearts of the people, it prepares for public morals. Circulate that word, and you find the tone of morals immediately changed. It is God peaking to man.
Lord, grant that my work increase knowledge and help other men. Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man’s destruction. Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in Brain be published before the destruction takes place.
It is not possible to know how far the influence of any amiable, honest-hearted duty-doing man flies out into the world, but it is very possible to know how it has touched one's self in going by.
If the object of poetry is, to make men, then poetry is the heir of prophecy.
Their moral influence will then do infinitely more to advance the true interests of religion, than any measures which they may call on Congress to enact.
Money is either a good or bad influence, according to the character of the person who possesses it.
Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it.
It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.
Just think out for yourselves, if a man who was good yesterday has become bad after having come in contact with me, is he responsible that he has deteriorated or am I? ... It is well to take the blame sometimes.
Sloth, if it has prevented many crimes, has also smothered many virtues.
