Hosea Ballou Quotes

“Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Error is always more busy than truth.”

— Hosea Ballou

“There is no such things as 'best' in the world of individuals.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible.”

— Hosea Ballou

“If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury,
but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good.
Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Our blessings are the least heeded, because the most common events of life.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Honest and courageous people have very little to say about either their courage or their honesty.”

— Hosea Ballou

“The experience of others adds to our knowledge, but not to our wisdom; that is dearer bought.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Man, being not only a religious, but also a social being, requires for the promotion of his rational happiness religious institutions, which, while they give a proper direction to devotion, at the same time make a wise and profitable improvement of his social feelings.”

— Hosea Ballou

Obedience, as it regards the social relations, the rules of society, and the laws of nature and nature's God, should commence at the cradle and end only at the tomb.

— Hosea Ballou

“Self-respect is the best of all.”

— Hosea Ballou

“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.”

— Hosea Ballou

“There is no doubt that religious fanatics have done more to prejudice the cause they affect to advocate than have its opponents.”

— Hosea Ballou

“With regard to manner, be careful to speak in a soft, tender, kind and loving way. Even when you have occasion to rebuke, be careful to do it with manifest kindness. The effect will be incalculably better.”

— Hosea Ballou

“It is a glorious occupation, vivifying and self-sustaining in its nature, to struggle with ignorance, and discover to the inquiring minds of the masses the clear cerulean blue of heavenly truth.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Some clergymen make a motto, instead of a theme, of their texts.”

— Hosea Ballou

Faith, in order to be genuine and of any real value, must be the offspring of that divine love which Jesus manifested when He prayed for His enemies on the cross.

— Hosea Ballou

“There is no immunity from the consequences of sin; punishment is swift and sure to one and all.”

— Hosea Ballou

“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.”

— Hosea Ballou

“It is my humble prayer that I may be of some use in my day and generation.”

— Hosea Ballou

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.

— Hosea Ballou

“The goodness of God to mankind is no less evinced in the chastisement with which He corrects His children than in the smiles of His providence; for the Lord will not cast off forever, but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.”

— Hosea Ballou

“The law of heaven is love.”

— Hosea Ballou

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.

— Hosea Ballou

“True sympathy is putting ourselves in another's place; and we are moved in proportion to the reality of our imagination.”

— Hosea Ballou

“The eye is the inlet to the soul, and it is well to beware of him whose visual organs avoid your honest regard.”

— Hosea Ballou

“How can there be pride in a contrite heart? Humility is the earliest fruit of religion.”

— Hosea Ballou

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.

— Hosea Ballou

“That kind of discipline whose pungent severity is in the manifestations of paternal love, compassion, and tenderness is the most sure of its object.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Rage is mental imbecility.”

— Hosea Ballou

“You cannot judge by outward appearances; the soul is only transparent to its Maker.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Purity in person and in morals is true godliness.”

— Hosea Ballou

Duty itself is supreme delight when love is the inducement and labor. By such a principle the ignorant are enlightened, the hard-hearted softened, the disobedient reformed, and the faithful encouraged.

— Hosea Ballou

“It is in sickness that we most feel the need of that sympathy which shows how much we are dependent upon one another for our comfort, and even necessities. Thus disease, opening our eyes to the realities of life, is an indirect blessing.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Not the least misfortune in a prominent falsehood is the fact that tradition is apt to repeat it for truth.”

— Hosea Ballou

“A wise Providence consoles our present afflictions by joys borrowed from the future.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Death comes to us, under many conditions, with all the welcome serenity of sleep.”

— Hosea Ballou

“It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice.”

— Hosea Ballou

Prosperity seems to be scarcely safe, unless it be mixed with a little adversity.

— Hosea Ballou

“If our Creator has so bountifully provided for our existence here, which is but momentary, and for our temporal wants, which will soon be forgotten, how much more must He have done for our enjoyment in the everlasting world?”

— Hosea Ballou

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.

— Hosea Ballou

“A mother's love, in a degree, sanctifies the most worthless offspring.”

— Hosea Ballou

“As "unkindness has no remedy at law," let its avoidance be with you a point of honor.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Attempt to teach the young but little at a time; this will be easier to impart, easier to receive, and surer to be retained.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Hypocrisy is oftenest clothed in the garb of religion.”

— Hosea Ballou

“Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant, remains fruitless.”

— Hosea Ballou

“I have somewhere read that conscience not only sits as witness and judge within our bosoms, but also forms the prison of punishment.”

— Hosea Ballou