Great Throughts Treasury

"A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis."

"Good habits, which bring our lower passions and appetites under automatic control, leave our natures free to explore the larger experiences of life. Too many of us divide and dissipate our energies in debating actions which should be taken for granted."

"We cannot save life by hoarding it... The power of love or sympathy is never exhausted by use."

"Our love of God is tested by the question of whether we seek him or his gifts."

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength."

"Our growth depends not on how many experiences we devour, but on how many we digest."

"The test of religion is whether it fits us to meet emergencies. A man has not more character than he can command in time of crisis."

"The way to overcome the fear and unreality of death and the hereafter is to learn to live with eternal and invisible things here and now. If we live only for the pleasures of sense, of course we cannot take our satisfactions with us. But if we live for the things of the spirit, truth, goodness, love and their like, we shall be fitted for the life which survives the grave."

"True, not many deaths are due to boredom. But if we think of the time it kills, the vitality it lowers and the productive power it lessens we see that it takes a terrific toll."

"To pray is to expose the shores of the mind to the incoming tide of God."

"People prefer a religion which makes them feel safe and good rather than right and real."

"Aspiration shows us the goal and the distance to it; inspiration encourages with a view to how far we have come. Aspiration gives us the map of the journey; inspiration furnishes the music to keep us marching."

"Collective sinning is a dire reality, but collective repentance is usually too diluted to be curative."

"The forgiveness of the world can only be accomplished by the judgment of the world."

"Truth is a kingdom which belongs to those who give themselves to it, lead where it may, cost what it will, use or not use."

"The mind of the God-seeker must not only be sufficiently open to take whatever truth gives; it must also be sufficiently generous to give whatever truth takes."

"The pulpit is in more danger of selling its freedom through catering to the public than of losing its liberty through government pressure."

"The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder."

"A person may sometimes have a clear conscience simply because his head is empty."

"One of the paradoxes of our time is that we have more power at our disposal than ever before, and yet we seem more powerless than ever."

"It is one thing to be moved by events; it is another to be mastered by them."

"The way we face this factor of chance helps to determine the spirit and quality of our lives. When we count on chance in lieu of preparation and prudence we weaken our characters."

"What makes greatness is starting something that lives after you."

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."

"Be careful that victories do not carry the seed of future defeats."

"A service of worship is primarily a service to God. When we realize this and act upon it, we make it a service to men."

"In all living there is a certain narrowness of application which leads to breadth and power. We have to concentrate on a thing in order to master it. Then we must be broad enough not to be narrowed by our specialties."

"A true lover always feels in debt to the one he loves."

"Love is the outreach of self toward completion."

"Let us not bankrupt our todays by paying interest on the regrets of yesterday and by borrowing in advance the troubles of tomorrow."

"The roads of life are strewn with the wreckage of run-down and half-finished loves."

"True humility is intelligent self-respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us modest by reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be."

"When the dictators and the opportunists are gone, the cross will still stand before us and something in us will say, 'That is the real thing.'"

"When the congregation becomes the norm by which sermons are measured, a minister has put a mortgage on his soul."

"Whatever the right hand findeth to do, the left hand carries a watch on its wrist to show how long it takes to do it."