Henry Ward Beecher

The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.

Gambling with cards or dice or stocks is all one thing. It's getting money without giving an equivalent for it.

The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government.

The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.

In this world, full often, our joys are only the tender shadows which our sorrows cast.

It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.

Laughter is not a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is the best ending for one.

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.

God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness.

Well married a person has wings, poorly married shackles.

Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.

To array a man's will against his sickness is the supreme art of medicine.

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.

The head learns new things, but the heart forever practices old experiences.

God made man to go by motives, and he will not go without them, any more than a boat without steam or a balloon without gas.

A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!