Hosea Ballou Quotes
Ministers who threaten death and destruction employ weapons of weakness. Argument and kindness are alone effectual, flavored by the principles of Divine love.
Be more careful of your conscience than of your estate. The latter can be bought and sold; the former never.
To talk of luck and chance only shows how little we really know of the laws which govern cause and effect.
It is the goodly outside that sin puts on which tempteth to destruction. It has been said that sin is like the bee, with honey in its mouth, but a sting in its tail.
Not the least misfortune in a prominent falsehood is the fact that tradition is apt to repeat it for truth.
How can there be pride in a contrite heart? Humility is the earliest fruit of religion.
Remember, when incited to slander, that it is only he among you who is without sin that may cast the first stone.
The act of divine worship is the inestimable privilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration.
Prosperity is very liable to bring pride among the other goods with which it endows an individual; it is then that prosperity costs too dear.
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.
It is better to be the builder of our own name than to be indebted by descent for the proudest gifts known to the books of heraldry.
I have somewhere read that conscience not only sits as witness and judge within our bosoms, but also forms the prison of punishment.
A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page.
Folly is like the growth of weeds, always luxurious and spontaneous; wisdom, like flowers, requires cultivation.
How white are the fair robes of Charity as she walketh amid the lowly habitations of the poor!
True sympathy is putting ourselves in another's place; and we are moved in proportion to the reality of our imagination.
If gratitude is due from children to their earthly parent, how much more is the gratitude of the great family of men due to our father in heaven.
Most people who commit a sin count on some personal benefit to be derived therefrom, but profanity has not even this excuse.
Attempt to teach the young but little at a time; this will be easier to impart, easier to receive, and surer to be retained.
A careless and blasphemous use of the name of the Divine Being is not only sinful, but it is also prima facie evidence of vulgar associations.
The severest punishment suffered by a sensitive mind, for injury inflicted upon another, is the consciousness of having done it.
There is no possible excuse for a guarded lie. Enthusiastic and impulsive people will sometimes falsify thoughtlessly, but equivocation is malice prepense.
There is one sure criterion of judgment as to religious faith in doctrinal matters; can you reduce it to practice? If not, have none of it.
It is vain to trust in wrong; it is like erecting a building upon a frail foundation, and which will directly be sure to topple over.
