Shaftesbury Quotes
True courage is cool and calm. The bravest of men have the least of a brutal, bullying insolence, and in the very time of danger are found the most serene and free.
To love the public, to study universal good, and to promote the interest of the whole world, as far as lies within our power, is the height of goodness, and makes that temper which we call divine.
The most natural beauty in the world is honesty and moral truth. For all beauty is truth.
It is the hardest thing in the world to be a good thinker without being a good self examiner.
There is a melancholy which accompanies all enthusiasm.
Men of sense are really all of one religion. But men of sense never tell what it is.
The greatest of fools is he who imposes on himself, and in his greatest concern thinks certainly he knows that which he has least studied, and of which he is most profoundly ignorant.
Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance.
I would be virtuous for my own sake, though nobody were to know it; as I would be clean for my own sake, though nobody were to see me.
True features make the beauty of a face, and true proportions the beauty of architecture.
How comes it to pass, then, that we appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule? - Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Men's first thoughts in this matter are generally better than their second; their natural notions better than those refin'd by study, or consultation with casuists.
Remember that there is nothing in God but what is godlike; and that He is either not at all, or truly and perfectly good.
Gravity is of the very essence of imposture; it does not only mistake other things, but is apt perpetually almost to mistake itself.
It is the saying of an ancient sage that humor was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor.
The face of Truth is not less fair and beautiful for all the counterfeit visors which have been put upon her.
Through certain humors or passions, and from temper merely, a man may be completely miserable, let his outward circumstances be ever so fortunate.
As accidental as my life may be, or as that random humor is, which governs it, I know nothing, after all, so real or substantial as myself
When men are easy in themselves, they let others remain so.
Tis the strumpet's plague To beguile many, and be beguiled by one.
It is the same with understanding as with eyes; to a certain size and make, just so much light is necessary, and no more. Whatever is beyond brings darkness and confusion.
It is not wit merely, but temper, which must form the well-bred man. In the same manner it is not a head merely, but a heart and resolution, which must complete the real philosopher.
As many as are the difficulties which Virtue has to encounter in this world, her force is yet superior.
They who are great talkers in company have never been any talkers by themselves, nor used to private discussions of our home regimen.