Quote#Truth
The worst thing about all this staining power of the world is the way…
Quote byPhillips Brooks · 1835–1893
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "Unspotted from the World".
English (original)
The worst thing about all this staining power of the world is the way in which we come to think of it as inevitable. ... It is not true. ... Social life is lighted up with the lustre of the white, unstained robes of many a pure man or woman who walks through its very midst.
— Phillips Brooks
More from Phillips Brooks
Life comes before literature, as the material always comes before the work. The hills are full of marble before the world blooms with statues.
The absence of sentimentalism in Christ's relations with men is what makes His tenderness so exquisitely touching.
O, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall …
For greatness after all, in spite of its name, appears to be not so much a certain size as a certain quality in human lives. It may be present in lives whose range is very small.
O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth! And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth.
Never be afraid to bring the transcendent mysteries of our faith, Christ's life and death and resurrection, to the help of the humblest and commonest of human wants.