Charles Spurgeon

“The change is radical it gives us new natures, it makes us love what we hated and hate what we loved, it sets us in a new road; it makes our habits different, it makes our thoughts different, it makes us different in private, and different in public.”

“The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination.”

“As a child, when asked what I would be, I usually said I was going to be a huntsman. A fine profession, truly!”

“Nothing is improved by anger, unless it be the arch of a cat's back. A man with his back up is spoiling his figure. People look none the handsomer for being red in the face. It takes a great deal out of a man to get into a towering rage; it is almost as unhealthy as having a fit. . . . Whatever wrong I suffer, it can not do me half so much hurt as being angry about it.”

“Music is at its best when it is pleasingly melancholic.”

“Luck generally comes to those who look for it, and my notion is that it taps, once in a lifetime, at everybody's door, but if industry does not open it luck goes away.”

“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”

“A world where everything was easy would be a nursery for babies, but not at all a fit place for men.”

“We are all damaged goods in recovery.”

“He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.”

“Little learning and much pride come of hasty reading.”

“Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity.”

“As long as a man is alive and out of hell, he cannot have any cause to complain.”

“If a crooked stick is before you, you need not explain how crooked it is. Lay a straight one down by the side of it, and the work is well done. Preach the truth, and error will stand abashed in its presence.”

“We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them.”

“He is truly great in who hath power over himself.”

“Let gratitude be awakened; let humility be deepened; let love be quickened.”

“Said will be a little ahead, but done should follow at his heel.”

“We are all men, feeble, frail, and apt to faint.”

“If any man will preach as he should preach, his work will take more out of him than any other labor under heaven.”

“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”

“Complicity with error will take from the best of men the power to enter any successful protest against it.”

“Fill the earth with your songs of gratitude.”

“I long for nothing more earnestly than to serve God with all my might.”

“Nothing but grace makes a man so humble and, at the same time, so glad.”

“If we will only think, we shall begin to thank.”

“Is there nothing to sing about to-day? Then borrow a song from tomorrow; sing of what is yet to be. Is this world dreary? Then think of the next.”

“If we never have headaches through rebuking our children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up.”

“Victory needs conflict as its preface.”

“Before you can teach children, you must get the silver key of kindness to unlock their hearts, and so secure their attention.”

“When filled with holy truth the mind rests.”

“Darkness is the fit hour for beasts of prey, and ignorance the natural dwelling place of cruelty.”

“Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life's song, 'He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.'”

“I think you may judge of a man’s character by the persons whose affection he seeks. If you find a man seeking only the affection of those who are great, depend upon it he is ambitious and self-seeking; but when you observe that a man seeks the affection of those who can do nothing for him, but for whom he must do everything, you know that he is not seeking himself, but that pure benevolence sways his heart.”

“Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self.”

“Nonsense is nonsense whether it rhymes or not, just as bad half-pennies are good for nothing whether they jingle or lie quiet.”

“There is no greater mercy that I know of on earth than good health except it is sickness, and that has often been a greater mercy to me than health.”

“There is no fatigue so wearisome as that which comes from lack of work.”

“When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name.”

“I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.”

“Patience is a grace as difficult as it is necessary, and as hard to come by as it is precious when it is gained.”

“If God has fit you to be a missionary, I would not have you shrivel down to be a king.”

“A dark cloud is no sign that the sun has lost his light; and dark black convictions are no arguments that God has laid aside His mercy.”

“Where the plow does not go and the seed is not sown, the weeds are sure to multiply.”

“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge.”

“None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves.”

“Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.”

“Wash your face every morning in a bath of praise.”

“Hundreds would never have known want if they had not first known waste.”

“The man who finds the ministry an easy life will also find that it will bring a hard death.”