Henry Ward Beecher

The strength of a man consists in finding out the way God is going, and going that way.

— Henry Ward Beecher

To become an able and successful man in any profession, three things are necessary, nature, study and practice.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Success is full of promise till one gets it, and then it seems like a nest from which the bird has flown.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Suffering is part of the divine idea.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Theology is a science of mind applied to God.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Theology is but our ideas of truth classified and arranged.

— Henry Ward Beecher

A grindstone that had not grit in it, how long would it take to sharpen an ax? And affairs that had not grit in them, how long would they take to make a man?

— Henry Ward Beecher

The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.

— Henry Ward Beecher

We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning.

— Henry Ward Beecher

A tool is but the extension of a man's hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. And he that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well-being of mankind.

— Henry Ward Beecher

When we borrow trouble, and look forward into the future and see what storms are coming, and distress ourselves before they come, as to how we shall avert them if they ever do come, we lose our proper trustfulness in God. When we torment ourselves with imaginary dangers, or trials, or reverses, we have already parted with that perfect love which casteth out fear.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Victories that are easy are cheap. Those only are worth having which come as the result of hard fighting.

— Henry Ward Beecher

All words are pegs to hang ideas on.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Work is not a curse, but drudgery is!

— Henry Ward Beecher

In the ordinary business of life, industry can do anything which genius can do, and very many things which it cannot.

— Henry Ward Beecher

It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more upon a man than he can bear. Worry is the rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution which destroys the machinery but the friction. Fear secretes acids; but love and trust are sweet juices

— Henry Ward Beecher

He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Mirth is the sweet wine of human life. It should be offered sparkling with zestful life unto God.

— Henry Ward Beecher

The one great poem of New England is her Sunday.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Any law that takes hold of a mans daily life cannot prevail in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative are the laws which protect life.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.

— Henry Ward Beecher

There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs.

— Henry Ward Beecher

The best fire in winter is made up of exercise, and the poorest of whiskey. He that keeps warm on liquor is like a man who pulls his house to pieces to feed the fireplace.

— Henry Ward Beecher

God uses suffering as a whetstone, to make men sharp with.

— Henry Ward Beecher

A liberal use of wine makes after-dinner speaking much easier. Men will then laugh heartily at the oldest kind of a chestnut.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Never be grandiloquent when you want to drive home a searching truth. Don't whip with a switch that has the leaves on, if you want it to tingle.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Even to this hour, the first acquaintance with oysters is with much hesitation and squeamish apprehension. Who, then, first gulped the dainty thing, and forever after called himself blessed?

— Henry Ward Beecher

Prayer is often an argument of laziness: "Lord, my temper gives me a vast deal of inconvenience, and it would be a great task for me to correct it; and wilt thou be pleased to correct it for me, that I may get along easier?" If prayer was answered under such circumstances, independent of action of natural laws, it would be paying a premium on indolence.

— Henry Ward Beecher

There are more quarrels smothered by just shutting your mouth, and holding it shut, than by all the wisdom in the world.

— Henry Ward Beecher

A good village primary school ought to be a cross between a nursery and a play-room; and the teacher ought to be playmate, nurse, and mother, all combined.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Let a little preliminary exultation of a new man in a new place be forgiven, ye who are now established! Remember your own household fervor on first setting up, while we recount our economic joy, and anticipations of modern conveniences that would take away all human care, and speed life upon a downhill path, where it was to be easier to move than to stand still!

— Henry Ward Beecher