Quotes by Dorothea Dix

“In a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do”

“I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast. I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane men and women; of beings sunk to a condition from which the unconcerned world would start with real horror.”

“Man is not made better by being degraded; he is seldom restrained from crime by harsh measures, except the principle of fear predominates in his character; and then he is never made radically better for its influence.”

“While we diminish the stimulant of fear, we must increase to prisoners the incitements of hope, in proportion as we extinguish the terrors of the law, we should awaken and strengthen the control of the conscience.”

“A man usually values that most for which he has labored; he uses that most frugally which he has toiled hour by hour and day by day to acquire.”

“The tapestry of history has no point at which you can cut it and leave the design intelligible.”

“I think even lying on my bed I can still do something.”

“The reason husbands and wives do not understand each other is because they belong to different sexes”

But the truth is the highest consideration.

The rose is the flower and handmaiden of love - the lily, her fair associate, is the emblem of beauty and purity.

The duties of a teacher are neither few nor small, but they elevate the mind and give energy to the character.

To me, the avocation of a teacher has something elevating and exciting. While surrounded by the young, one may always be doing good.

I shall try and effect all that is before me to perform; and God, I think, will surely give me strength for His work so long as He directs my line of duty.

With care and patience, people may accomplish things which, to an indolent person, would appear impossible.

As you have learnt something of time, value and make a proper use of it. Once past, it knows no return; how necessary, then, that you spend it in improving your mind and fitting it for future happiness and usefulness.

What greater bliss than to look back on days spent in usefulness, in doing good to those around us.

We are not sent into this world mainly to enjoy the loveliness therein, nor to sit us down in passive ease; no, we were sent here for action. The soul that seeks to do the will of God with a pure heart, fervently, does not yield to the lethargy of ease.

Pleasures take to themselves wings and fly away true knowledge remains forever.

The olive branch has been consecrated to peace, palm branches to victory, the laurel to conquest and poetry, the myrtle to love and pleasure, the cypress to mourning, and the willow to despondency.

I must study alone, as I am condemned to do every thing alone, I believe, in this life.