William Channing Great Quotations

I have expressed my strong interest in the mass of the people; and this is founded, not on their usefulness to the community, so much as on what they are in themselves.... Indeed every man (sic), in every condition, is great. It is only our own diseased sight which makes him little. A man is great as a man, be he where or what he may. The grandeur of his nature turns to insignificance all outward distinctions.

In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.

Of all treasons against humanity, there is no one worse than his who employs great intellectual force to keep down the intellect of his less favored brothers

It is a greater work to educate a child, in the true and larger sense of the word, than to rule a state.

He who possesses the divine powers of the soul is a great being, be his place what it may. You may clothe him with rags, may immure him in a dungeon, may chain him to slavish tasks. But he is still great . . . .

Ideas are the mightiest influence on earth. One great thought breathed into a man may regenerate him.

The greatest truths are wronged if not linked with beauty, and they win their way most surely and deeply into the soul when arrayed in this their natural and fit attire.

The wise only possess ideas, the great part of mankind are possessed by them.