Hosea Ballou Quotes

Too many people embrace religion from the same motives that they take a companion in wedlock, not from true love of the person, but because of a large dowry.

Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams.

Education commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within hearsay of little children tends toward the formation of character.

Disease is the retribution of outraged Nature.

There is no immunity from the consequences of sin; punishment is swift and sure to one and all.

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.

We must not only read the Scriptures, but we must make their rules of life our own.

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

Energy, like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains.

Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness.

Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible.

Honest and courageous people have very little to say about either their courage or their honesty. The sun has no need to boast of his brightness, nor the moon of her effulgence.

Hatred is self-punishment. Hatred it the coward's revenge for being intimidated.

There is nothing that needs to be said in an unkind manner.

Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable.

Hypocrisy is oftenest clothed in the garb of religion.

Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.

It is easy to be beautiful; it is difficult to appear so.

Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine.

Pretension almost always overdoes the original, and hence exposes itself.

The oppression of any people for opinion's sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important.

All our possessions are as nothing compared to health, strength, and a clear conscience.

Preaching is to much avail, but practice is far more effective. A godly life is the strongest argument you can offer the skeptic.

Faith, in order to be genuine and of any real value, must be the offspring of that divine love which Jesus manifested when He prayed for His enemies on the cross.

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage.

A chaste and lucid style is indicative of the same personal traits in the author.

Between the humble and contrite heart and the majesty of Heaven there are no barriers; the only password is prayer.

Servility is disgusting to a truly noble character, and engenders only contempt.

True repentance also involves reform.

Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devil's propagation.

Obedience, as it regards the social relations, the rules of society, and the laws of nature and nature's God, should commence at the cradle and end only at the tomb.

It is what we give up, not what we lay up, that adds to our lasting store.

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul; and the heart of man knoweth none more fragrant.

True repentance always involves reform.

The heavens and the earth, the woods and the wayside, teem with instruction and knowledge to the curious and thoughtful.

No one has a greater asset for his business than a man's pride in his work.

Mystery and innocence are not akin.

The experience of others adds to our knowledge, but not to our wisdom; that is dearer bought.

A good smile is the sunshine of wisdom.

The cloudy weather melts at length into beauty, and the brightest smiles of the heart are born of its tears.

Obedience and resignation are our personal offerings upon the altar of duty.

It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice.

Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.

There is no doubt that religious fanatics have done more to prejudice the cause they affect to advocate than have its opponents.

As "unkindness has no remedy at law," let its avoidance be with you a point of honor.

Be circumspect in your dealings, and let the seed you plant be the offspring of prudence and care; thus fruit follows the fair blossom, as honor follows a good life.

No reproof or denunciation is so potent as the silent influence of a good example.

Obedience sums up our entire duty.

Hatred is self-punishment.

A true religious instinct never deprived man of one single joy; mournful faces and a sombre aspect are the conventional affectations of the weak-minded.