Henry Ward Beecher

Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it only serves to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is greatest whose strength carries up the most …

Let it be understood that the end of our existence here is that we may be more God-like [...] and that we are placed here to grow strong and noble, and not merely to enjoy.

A man in the right, with God on his side, is in the majority, though he be alone, for God is multitudinous above all populations of the earth.

If any of you should die today, could you say to God, "Lord, here is my life work. Thou didst send me into life with a handful of seeds, and here is my heart, like a garden, full of flowers"?

Raphael did well, and Phidias did well; but it is not painter or sculptor who is making himself most nobly immortal. It is he who is making true impressions upon the mind of man; frescoes for eternity, that will not shine out till the …

The call to religion is not a call to be better than your fellows, but to be better than yourself.

There are apartments in the soul which have a glorious out-look; from whose windows you can see across the river of death, and into the shining city beyond; but how often are these neglected for the lower ones, which have earthward-looking …

Some men are like pyramids, which are very broad when they touch the ground, but grow narrower as they reach the sky.

Nature is a vast repository of manly enjoyments.

Evil men of every degree will use you, flatter you, lead you on until you are useless; then, if the virtuous do not pity you, or God compassionate, you are without a friend in the universe.

The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into …

There are a great many doors open; but a door must be of a man's size or it is not meant for him.

[N]o emotion, any more than a wave, can long retain its own individual form.

The common schools are the stomachs of the country in which all people that come to us are assimilated within a generation. When a lion eats an ox, the lion does not become an ox but the ox becomes a lion. So the immigrants of all races …

Any law that takes hold of a man’s daily life cannot prevail in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative are the laws which protect life.

Humor is...nearer right than any emotion we have. Humor is the atmosphere in which grace most flourishes.

Ye that mourn, let gladness mingle with your tears. It was your son, but now he is the nation's.

A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life.

Where is human nature so weak as in a book store?