Quotes by Henry Ward Beecher

“I pray that no child of mine would ever descend into such a place as a library. They are indeed most dangerous places and unfortunate is she or he who is lured into such a hellhole of enjoyment, stimulus, facts, passion and fun.”

“Start at once a bedside library and spend the last half hour of the day in communion with the saints of humanity.”

“The librarian of today, and it will be true still more of the librarians of tomorrow, are not fiery dragons interposed between the people and the books. They are useful public servants, who manage libraries in the interest of the public . . . Many still think that a great reader, or a writer of books, will make an excellent librarian. This is pure fallacy.”

“A great library contains the diary of the human race.”

“Sanity is a madness put to good use.”

“True forgiveness is not an action after the fact, it is an attitude with which you enter each moment.”

“Forgiveness is the answer to the childs dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.”

“To a true artist only that face is beautiful which, quite apart from its exterior, shines with the truth within the soul”

“No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times.”

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?

Adversity, if for no other reason, is of benefit, since it is sure to bring a season of sober reflection. People see clearer at such times. Storms purify the atmosphere.

Now comes the mystery! (last words)

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.

All words are pegs to hang ideas on.

‎Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else.

Mens best successes come after their disappointments.

A book is good company. It is full of conversation without loquacity. It comes to your longing with full instruction, but pursues you never.

The soul without imagination is what an observatory would be without a telescope.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.