John Lancaster Spalding Men Quotations

Passion is begotten of passion, and it easily happens, as with the children of great men, that the base is the offspring of the noble.

If we are disappointed that men give little heed to what we utter is it for their sake or our own?

If ancient descent could confer nobility, the lower forms of life would possess it in a greater degree than man.

Unless we consent to lack the common things which men call success, we shall hardly become heroes or saints, philosophers or poets.

The common man is impelled and controlled by interests; the superior, by ideas.

We may outgrow the things of children, without acquiring sense and relish for those which become a man.

We have lost the old love of work, of work which kept itself company, which was fair weather and music in the heart, which found its reward in the doing, craving neither the flattery of vulgar eyes nor the gold of vulgar men.

In the world of thought a man's rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement.

To learn the worth of a man's religion, do business with him.

A principal aim of education is to give students a taste for literature, for the books of life and power, and to accomplish this, it is necessary that their minds be held aloof from the babblement and discussions of the hour, that they may accustom themselves to take interest in the words and deeds of the greatest men, and so make themselves able and worthy to shape a larger and nobler future; but if their hours of leisure are spent over journals and reviews, they will, in later years, become the helpless victims of the newspaper habit.

To secure approval one must remain within the bounds of conventional mediocrity. Whatever lies beyond, whether it be greater insight and virtue, or greater stolidity and vice, is condemned. The noblest men, like the worst criminals, have been done to death.

A liberal education is that which aims to develop faculty without ulterior views of profession or other means of gaining a livelihood. It considers man an end in himself and not an instrument whereby something is to be wrought. Its ideal is human perfection.

When guests enter the room their entertainers rise to receive them; and in all meetings men should ascend into their higher selves, imparting to one another only the best they know and love.

To think of education as a means of preserving institutions however excellent, is to have a superficial notion of its end and purpose, which is to mould and fashion men who are more than institutions, who create, outgrow, and re-create them.

Whom little things occupy and keep busy, are little men.

Inferior thinking and writing will make a name for a man among inferior people, who in all ages and countries, are the majority.

As a brave man goes into fire or flood or pestilence to save a human life, so a generous mind follows after truth and love, and is not frightened from the pursuit by danger or toil or obloquy.