Hugh Blair
Hugh Blair (April 7, 1718 December 27, 1800), is considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. As a Presbyterian preacher and Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh, Blairs teachings had a great impact in both the spiritual and the secular realms. Best known for Sermons, a five volume endorsement of practical Christian morality, and Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, a prescriptive guide on composition, Blair was a valuable part of the Scottish Enlightenment.
6 Quotes
Only mediocrity of enjoyment is allowed to man.
— Hugh Blair
What ever purifies the heart also fortifies it.
— Hugh Blair
The great standard of literature as to purity and exactness of style is the Bible.
— Hugh Blair
Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manner.
— Hugh Blair
Worry not about the possible troubles of the future; for if they come, you are but anticipating and adding to their weight; and if they do not come, your worry is useless; and in either case it is weak and in vain, and a distrust of God's providence.
— Hugh Blair
If you delay till to-morrow what ought to be done to-day, you overcharge the morrow with a burden which belongs not to it. You load the wheels of time, and prevent it from carrying you along smoothly. He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows out the plan, carries on a thread which will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of his time is like a ray of light which darts itself through all his affairs. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled together in one chaos, which admits neither of distribution nor review.
— Hugh Blair