I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.
Discernment is not a matter of telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.
An ill life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent ministry.
A friend to everybody is often a friend to nobody, or else in his simplicity he robs his family to help strangers, and becomes brother to a beggar. There is wisdom in generosity, as in everything else.
Carve your name on hearts, not on marble
There’s no shame about any honest calling; don’t be afraid of soiling your hands, there’s plenty of soap to be had.
Poor human nature cannot bear such strains as heavenly triumphs bring to it; there must come a reaction. Excess of joy or excitement must be paid for by subsequent depressions. While the trial lasts, the strength is equal to the emergency; but when it is over, natural weakness claims the right to show itself.
But no thoughtful man's life is uninteresting or devoid of marvels. A sincere life cannot be empty of memorable occurrences.
A child's cry touches a father's heart.
By perseverance the snail reached the ark.
Trials teach us what we are.
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.
Get a friend to tell you your faults, or better still, welcome an enemy who will watch you keenly and sting you savagely. What a blessing such an irritating critic will be to a wise man, what an intolerable nuisance to a fool!
An unkind heart is the worst. It is a plague to its possessor, and a torment to those around him.
I would go to the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.
The goose that lays the golden eggs likes to lay where there are eggs already.
We are all men, feeble, frail, and apt to faint.
Must is a hard nut to crack, but it has a sweet kernel.
If any man will preach as he should preach, his work will take more out of him than any other labor under heaven.
As a child, when asked what I would be, I usually said I was going to be a huntsman. A fine profession, truly!
Anger does a man more hurt than that which made him angry.
Little learning and much pride come of hasty reading.
Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself. It is no humility for a man to think less of himself than he ought.
Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.
The three most powerful and most apparent means used by Rome to retain her power over the minds of her votaries are Ignorance, Superstition, and Persecution.
Home is the grandest of all institutions.
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
A sermon wept over is more acceptable with God than one gloried over.
Suffering saints are living seed.
Whenever you get one inch above the ground in your own esteem, you are that inch too high!
Mind your till, and till your mind.
Never be afraid of the world's censure; it's praise is much more to be dreaded.
We are too prone to engrave our trials in marble and write our blessings in sand.
If we never have headaches through rebuking our children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up.
He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.
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.'
The more objects you set your heart upon, the more thorns there are to tear your peace of mind to shreds.
If you are renewed by grace, and were to meet your old self, I am sure you would be very anxious to get out of his company.
The man who finds the ministry an easy life will also find that it will bring a hard death.
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.
Ministers should be stars to give light, not clouds to obscure.
Economy is half the battle in life, but it is not so hard to earn money as to spend it well. Hundreds would never have known want if they had not first known waste.
Ready-to-Halt, Poor Fearing, and thou, Mrs. Despondency, and Much-afraid, go often there [the empty tomb]; let it be your favorite haunt. There build a tabernacle, there abide. And often say to your heart, when you are in distress and sorrow, Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Be dogmatically true, obstinately holy, immovably honest, desperately kind, fixedly upright.
He that can toy with his ministry and count it to be like a trade, or like any other profession, was never called of God. But he that has a charge pressing on his heart, and a woe ringing in his ear, and preaches as though he heard the cried of hell behind him, and saw his God looking down on him-oh, how that man entreats the Lord that his hearers may not hear in vain!
Your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in its place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in its place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself.
Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend.
We wept when we were born though all around us smiled; so shall we smile when we die while all around us weep.
I glory in the distinguishing grace of God and will not, by the grace of God, step one inch from my principles or think of adhering to the present fashionable sort of religion.
Behold, at this hour our moral history is being preserved for eternity. Processes are at work which will perpetuate our every act and word and thought.
Neither when we have chosen our way can we keep company with those who go the other way. There must come with the decision for truth a corresponding protest against error.
Wash your face every morning in a bath of praise.
Many people are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed; they chew the bitter pill which they would not even know to be bitter if they had the sense to swallow it whole in a cup of patience and water.
A thrifty housewife is better than a great income. A good wife and health are a man's best wealth.
Death is no punishment to the believer: it is the gate of endless joy.
It is never worth while to make rents in a garment for the sake of mending them? Nor to create doubts in order to show how cleverly we can quiet them.
When our troubles are many we are often by grace made courageous in serving our God; we feel that we have nothing to live for in this world, and we are driven, by hope of the world to come, to exhibit zeal, self-denial, and industry.
The saved man is not a perfect man, but his heart's desire is to become perfect.
We cannot play at preaching. We preach for eternity.
A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little worth.
