Hannah More Quotations | Page 2

the modes of speech are scarcely more variable than the modes of silence.

when these incorrigible talkers are compelled to be quiet, is it not evident that they are not silent because they are listening to what is said, but because they are thinking of what they themselves shall say when they can seize the first lucky interval, for which they are so narrowly watching?

parents are too apt to mistake inclination for genius.

It is the large aggregate of small things perpetually occurring that robs me of all my time. The expense of learning to read might have been spared in my education, for I never read.

We do not so much want books for good people, as books which will make bad ones better.

the uncandid censurer always picks out the worst man of a class, and then confidently produces him as being a fair specimen of it.

Anger is the common refuge of insignificance. People who feel their character to be slight, hope to give it weight by inflation: but the blown bladder at its fullest distention is still empty.

He who has once taken to drink can seldom be said to be guilty of one sin only ...

Strange! that what is enjoyed without pleasure cannot be discontinued without pain!

Wisdom views with an indifferent eye all finite joys, all blessings born to die.

The soul on earth is an immortal guest, Compelled to starve at an unreal feast: A spark, which upward tends by nature's force: A stream diverted from its parent source; A drop dissever'd from the boundless sea; A moment, parted from eternity; A pilgrim panting for the rest to come; An exile, anxious for his native home.

My retirement was now become solitude; the former is, I believe, the best state for the mind of man, the latter almost the worst. In complete solitude, the eye wants objects, the heart wants attachments, the understanding wants reciprocation. The character loses its tenderness when it has nothing to strengthen it, its sweetness when it has nothing to soothe it.

Sensibility appears to me to be neither good nor evil in itself, but in its application. Under the influence of Christian principle, it makes saints and martyrs; ill-directed, or uncontrolled, it is a snare, and the source of every temptation; besides, as people cannot get it if it is not given them, to descant on it seems to me as idle as to recommend people to have black eyes or fair complexions.

To be good and disagreeable is high treason against the royalty of virtue.

To hint at a fault does more mischief than speaking out; for whatever is left for the imagination to finish will not fail to be overdone ...

It is a sober truth that people who live only to amuse themselves work harder at the task than most people do in earning their daily bread.

A corrupt practice may be abolished, but a soiled imagination is not easily cleansed.

Long habit so reconciles us to almost any thing, that the grossest improprieties cease to strike us when they once make a part of the common course of action.

The abuse of terms has at all times been an evil.

it is the modern nature of goodness to exert itself quietly, while a few characters of the opposite cast seem, by the rumor of their exploits, to fill the world; and by their noise to multiply their numbers.

He who cannot find time to consult his Bible will one day find he has time to be sick; he who has no time to pray must find time to die; he who can find no time to reflect is most likely to find time to sin; he who cannot find time for repentance will find an eternity in which repentance will be of no avail; he who cannot find time to work for others may find an eternity in which to suffer for himself.

Indeed, I have, alas! outlived almost every one of my contemporaries. One pays dear for living long.

Among the many evils which prevail under the sun, the abuse of words is not the least considerable. By the influence of time, and the perversion of fashion, the plainest and most unequivocal may be so altered, as to have a meaning assigned them almost diametrically opposite to their original signification.

eternity is a depth which no geometry can measure, no arithmetic calculate, no imagination conceive, no rhetoric describe.

we live in an age which must be amused, though genius, feeling, trust, and principle be the sacrifice.

In men this blunder still you find; all think their little set mankind.

In grief we know the worst of what we feel but who can tell the end of what we fear?

Absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it.

Where bright imagination reigns, the fine-wrought spirit feels acuter pains.

A small unkindness is a great offence.

Yes, thou art ever present, power divine; not circumscribed by time, nor fixed by space, confined to altars, nor to temples bound. In wealth, in want, in freedom, or in chains, in dungeons or on thrones, the faithful find thee.

We have employments assigned to us for every circumstance in life. When we are alone, we have our thoughts to watch; in the family, our tempers; and in company, our tongues.

Everything which relates to God is infinite. We must therefore, while we keep our hearts humble, keep our aims high. Our highest services are indeed but finite, imperfect. But as God is unlimited in goodness, He should have our unlimited love.

It is not so important to know everything as to know the exact value of everything, to appreciate what we learn and to arrange what we know.

When thou hast truly thanked the Lord for every blessing sent, But little time will then remain for murmur or lament.

We are apt to mistake our vocation by looking out of the way for occasions to exercise great and rare virtues, and by stepping over the ordinary ones that lie directly in the road before us.

Sweet is the breath of praise when given by those whose own high merit claims the praise they give.

One kernel is felt in a hogshead; one drop of water helps to swell the ocean; a spark of fire helps to give light to the world. None are too small, too feeble, too poor to be of service. Think of this and act.

No man ever repented of being a Christian on his death bed.

The world does not require so much to be informed as to be reminded.

Prayer is not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; not figures of speech, but earnestness of soul.