Hannah More Quotes

It is doing some service to humanity, to amuse innocently. They know but little of society who think we can bear to be always employed, either in duties or meditation, without relaxation.

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

Affliction is a sort of moral gymnasium in which the disciples of Christ are trained to robust exercise, hardy exertion, and severe conflict.

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

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

If I wanted to punish an enemy, it should be by fastening on him the trouble of constantly hating somebody.

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

The roses of pleasure seldom last long enough to adorn the brow of him who plucks them; for they are the only roses which do not retain their sweetness after they have lost their beauty.

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.

Man can see his reflection in water only when he bends down close to it, and the heart of man, too, must lean down to the heart of his fellow; then it will see itself within his heart.

Who are those ever multiplying authors that with unparalleled fecundity are overstocking the world with their quick succeeding progeny? They are novel-writers.

Pleasure is by much the most laborious trade I know, especially for those who have not a vocation to it.

Life though a short, is a working day. Activity may lead to evil; but inactivity cannot be led to good.

Commending a right thing is a cheap substitute for doing it, with which we are too apt to satisfy ourselves.

Goals help you overcome short-term problems.

The keen spirit Seizes the prompt occasion, makes the thought Start into instant action, and at once Plans and performs, resolves and executes!

Expectation ... quickens desire, while possession deadens it.

Repentance is not completed by a single act, it must be incorporated into our mind, till it become a fixed state, arising from a continual sense of our need of it.

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

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

Pride never sleeps. The principle at least is always awake. An intemperate man is sometimes sober, but a proud man is never humble.

In agony or danger, no nature is atheist. The mind that knows not what to fly to, flies to God.

I am persuaded that there is no affection of the human heart more exquisitely pure, than that which is felt by a grateful son towards a mother.

Proportion and propriety are among the best secrets of domestic wisdom; and there is no surer test of integrity than a well-proportioned expenditure.

Those who want nothing are apt to forget how many there are who want every thing.

Perfect purity, fullness of joy, everlasting freedom, perfect rest, health and fruition, complete security, substantial and eternal good.

It is a part of Christianity to convert every natural talent to a religious use.

Temptation does not make the sin, it lies ready in the heart.

If faith produce no works, I see That faith is not a living tree.

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

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.

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.

Glory darts her soul-pervading ray on thrones and cottages, regardless still of all the artificial nice distinctions vain human customs make.

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

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

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

Outward attacks and troubles rather fix than unsettle the Christian, as tempests from without only serve to root the oak faster; while an inward canker will gradually rot and decay it.

oblivion has been noticed as the offspring of silence.

O jealousy, Thou ugliest fiend of hell! thy deadly venom Preys on my vitals, turns the healthful hue Of my flesh check to haggard sallowness, And drinks my spirit up!

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

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.

Anger is a violent act, envy a constant habit - no one can be always angry, but he may be always envious.

Of two evils, had not an author better be tedious than superficial! From an overflowing vessel you may gather more, indeed, than you want, but from an empty one you can gather nothing.

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.

If we commit any crime, or do any good here, it must be in thought; for our words are few and our deeds none at all.

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

Youth has a quickness of apprehension, which it is very apt to mistake for an acuteness of penetration.

he who finds he has wasted a shilling may by diligence hope to fetch it up again; but no repentance or industry can ever bring back one wasted hour.

There is scarcely any fault in another which offends us more than vanity, though perhaps there is none that really injures us so little.