writers-from-kentucky

"They who no longer believe in principles still proclaim them, to conceal, both from themselves and others, the selfishness of the motives by which they are dominated."

"If we attempt to sink the soul in matter, its light is quenched."

"O brave youth, how good for thee it were couldst thou be made to understand how infinitely precious are thy school years—years when thou hast leisure to grow, when new worlds break in upon thee, and thou fashionest thy being in the light of the ideals of truth and goodness and beauty! If now thou dost not fit thyself to become free and whole, thou shalt, when the doors of this fair mother-house of the mind, close behind thee, be driven into ways that lead to bondage, be compelled to do that which cripples and dwarfs; for the work whereby men gain a livelihood involves mental and moral mutilation, unless it be done in the spirit of religion and culture. Ah! well for thee, canst thou learn while yet there is time that it will profit thee nothing to become the possessor of millions, if the price thou payest is thy manhood."

"If a state should pass laws forbidding its citizens to become wise and holy, it would be made a byword for all time. But this, in effect, is what our commercial, social, and political systems do. They compel the sacrifice of mental and moral power to money and dissipation."

"Faith, like love, unites; opinion, like hate, separates."

"It is more profitable to be mindful of our own faults than of those of our age."

"The zest of life lies in right doing, not in the garnered harvest."

"When we have not the strength or the courage to grasp a new truth, we persuade ourselves that it is not a truth at all."

"We neglect the opportunities which are always present, and imagine that if those that are rare were offered, we should put them to good use. Thus we waste life waiting for what if it came we should be unprepared for."

"If thou wouldst be implacable, be so with thyself."

"Make thyself perfect; others, happy."

"Have as little suspicion as possible and conceal that."

"If thou need money, get it in an honest way—by keeping books, if thou wilt, but not by writing books."

"In the world of thought a man’s rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement."

"The writers who accomplish most are those who compel thought on the highest and most profoundly interesting subjects."

"In our thrifty populations of merchants, manufacturers, politicians, and professional men, there is little sense for beauty, little pure thought, little genuine culture; but they are prosperous and self-satisfied."

"The test of the worth of work is its effect on the worker. If it degrade him, it is bad; if it ennoble him, it is good."

"Break not the will of the young, but guide it to right ends."

"If thou hast sought happiness and missed it, but hast found wisdom instead, thou art fortunate."

"Those subjects have the greatest educational value, which are richest in incentives to the noblest self-activity."

"What matter that the man stands for much I cannot love—the moment he touches the realms of truth he enters my world and is my friend."

"They who can no longer unlearn have lost the power to learn."

"Education would be a divine thing, if it did nothing more than help us to think and love great thoughts instead of little thoughts."

"Let not what thou canst not prevent, though it be the ruin of thy home or country, draw thee from thy proper work."

"Rules of grammar can not give us a mastery of language, rules of rhetoric can not make us eloquent, rules of conduct can not make us good."

"To view an object in the proper light we must stand away from it. The study of the classical literatures gives the aloofness which cultivates insight. In learning to live with peoples and civilizations that have long ceased to be alive, we gain a vantage point, acquire an enlargement and elevation of thought, which enable us to study with a more impartial and liberal mind the condition of the society around us."

"Solitude is unbearable for those who can not bear themselves."

"They who see through the eyes of others are controlled by the will of others."

"The common man is impelled and controlled by interests; the superior, by ideas."

"The will—the one thing it is most important to educate—we neglect."

"Place before thyself the ideal of perfection, not that of happiness, for by doing what makes thee wiser and better, thou shalt find the peace and joy in which happiness consists."

"When pleasure is made a business, it ceases to be pleasure."

"Work, mental or manual, is the means whereby attention is compelled, it is the instrument of all knowledge and virtue, the root whence all excellence springs."

"Moral education is the development of individuality, and individuality can not be developed by formulas and mechanical processes: it is the work of the master who brings to his task a genuine and loving interest in the individual."

"To love the perfection with which we do our work, or the company of those with whom we work, is the secret of learning to love the work itself."

"What purifies the heart refines language."

"If thou wouldst help others deal with them as though they were what they should be"

"The first requisite of a gentleman is to be true, brave and noble, and to be therefore a rebuke and scandal to venal and vulgar souls."

"Language should be pure, noble and graceful, as the body should be so: for both are vestures of the Soul."

"If there are but few who interest thee, why shouldst thou be disappointed if but few find thee interesting?"

"We may avoid much disappointment and bitterness of soul by learning to understand how little necessary to our joy and peace are the things the multitude most desire and seek."

"Since the mass of mankind are too ignorant or too indolent to think seriously, if majorities are right it is by accident."

"Whom little things occupy and keep busy, are little men."

"The ploughman knows how many acres he shall upturn from dawn to sunset: but the thinker knows not what a day may bring forth."

"Houses and fields in which we lived and played in childhood and youth with those we loved, grow to be part of our being. The sight of them in later years touches us with mystic charm. It is like a vision from beyond the tomb or a memory of a lost Paradise. But little by little their power over us grows less and the light that falls on them becomes more like the common day. Their sacredness diminishes, their beauty fades. The young birds have flown, the old are dead, the leaves and blossoms have fallen and but the empty nest is left among the naked boughs; and looking on the desolation we feel that we have no abiding place on earth, since the home itself loses its consecration."

"As they are the bravest who require no witnesses to their deeds of daring, so they are the best who do right without thinking whether or not it shall be known."

"They who admire and reverence noble and heroic men are akin to them."

"The able have no desire to appear to be so, and this is part of their ability."

"A principal aim of education is to give students a taste for literature, for the books of life and power, and to accomplish this, it is necessary that their minds be held aloof from the babblement and discussions of the hour, that they may accustom themselves to take interest in the words and deeds of the greatest men, and so make themselves able and worthy to shape a larger and nobler future; but if their hours of leisure are spent over journals and reviews, they will, in later years, become the helpless victims of the newspaper habit."

"To clothe truth in fitting words is to feel a satisfaction like that which comes of doing good deeds."