Dorothea Dix Quotes & Sayings

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

Always remember those things that tend to strengthen and improve your understanding. You cannot learn without attention, neither retain those lessons that you have once learnt without frequently reflecting upon and reviewing them in your mind; by this means, things long past will remain impressed upon your memory. — Dorothea Dix

Life is not to be expended in vain regrets. No day, no hour, comes but brings in its train work to be performed for some useful end - the suffering to be comforted, the wandering led home, the sinner reclaimed. Oh! How can any fold the hands to rest and say to the spirit, 'Take thine ease, for all is well!' — Dorothea Dix

Indulged habits of dependence create habits of indolence, and indolence opens the portal to petty errors, to many degrading habits, and to vice and crime with their attendant train of miseries. — Dorothea Dix

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. — Dorothea Dix

The great benefactors of individuals and of communities are the enlightened educators: the wise-teaching, mental and moral instructors and exemplars of our times. — Dorothea Dix

I believe the best mode of aiding convicts is so to apportion their tasks in prison as to give to the industrious the opportunity of earning a sum for themselves by 'over-work.' 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. — Dorothea Dix

Pleasures take to themselves wings and fly away; true knowledge remains forever. — Dorothea Dix

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

I have had so much at heart. Defeated, not conquered; disappointed, not discouraged. I have but to be more energetic and more faithful in the difficult and painful vocation to which my life is devoted. — Dorothea Dix

Those who do wrong very often think others are censuring them, when they are not even thought of. — Dorothea Dix

'Know,' says a wise writer, the historian of kings, 'Know the men that are to be trusted'; but how is this to be? The possession of knowledge involves both time and opportunities. Neither of these are 'handservants at command.' — Dorothea Dix

Attention to any subject will in a short time render it attractive, be it ever so disagreeable and tedious at first. — Dorothea Dix

The fabled origin of the laurel is this. Daphne, daughter of the river Peneus, offended by the persecutions of Apollo, implored succour of the gods, who changed her into a laurel tree. Apollo crowned his head with the leaves and ordered that forever after, the tree should be sacred to him. — Dorothea Dix

I have little taste for fashionable dissipations, cards, and dancing; the theatre and tea parties are my aversion, and I look with little envy on those who find their enjoyment in such transitory delights, if delights they may be called. — Dorothea Dix

If we had only those things which are procured with ease and freedom from danger, we should find the comforts and luxuries, if not many of the necessaries of life, considerably diminished. — Dorothea Dix

[To a woman who claimed she'd rather be dead than unconfined and unfashionable:] My dear, if you continue to lace as tightly as you do now, you will not long have the privilege of choice. You will be both dead and out of fashion. — Dorothea Dix

Steady, firm, and kind government of prisoners is the truest humanity and the best exercise of duty. It is with convicts as with children: unseasonable indulgence, indiscreetly granted, leads to mischiefs which we may deplore but cannot repair. — Dorothea Dix

Brains are still unfashionable for women to wear, and it has always been proof of women's superiority that the more intelligent a man is, the more women admire him, while the bigger fool a woman is, the more men run after her. — Dorothea Dix

Rules must be established and enforced, and, as numbers are increased in prisons, the necessity for vigilance increases. These rules, let it be understood, may be kindly while firmly enforced. I would never suffer any exhibition of ill-temper or an arbitrary exercise of authority. — Dorothea Dix

I was early taught by sorrow to shed tears, and now when sudden joy lights up, or any unexpected sorrow strikes my heart, I find it difficult to repress the full and swelling tide of feeling. — Dorothea Dix

Men need knowledge in order to overpower their passions and master their prejudices. — Dorothea Dix

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. — Dorothea Dix

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

I have no particular love for my species, but own to an exhaustless fund of compassion — Dorothea Dix

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. — Dorothea Dix

Of all the calamities to which humanity is subject, none is so dreadful as insanity ... All experience shows that insanity seasonably treated is as certainly curable as a cold or a fever. — Dorothea Dix

I think even lying on my bed I can still do something. — Dorothea Dix

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

My wish is to be known only thru my work. — Dorothea Dix

Floral emblems have been often adopted. The houses of York and Lancaster had their roses, the Bourbons of France, the fleur-de-lis, Scotland her thistle, and Ireland her shamrock. — Dorothea Dix

In order to do good, a man must be good; and he will not be good except he have instruction by counsel and by example. — Dorothea Dix

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. — Dorothea Dix

What an enthusiastic devotion is that which sends a man from the attractions of home, the ties of neighbourhood, the bonds of country, to range plains, valleys, hills, mountains, for a new flower. — Dorothea Dix

I am contracting continually a debt of gratitude which time will never see canceled. There is a treasury from which it will be repaid, but I do not dispense its stores. — Dorothea Dix

Why not, when it can be done without exposure or expense, let me rescue some of America's miserable children from vice and guilt? — Dorothea Dix

Every evil has its good, and every ill an antidote. — Dorothea Dix

The lovely daisy, so justly celebrated by European poets, is not a native of our soil; we know it well, however, by cultivation in our gardens and green houses; besides, we are disposed to remember it for the sake of those who have sung its praises in immortal verse. — Dorothea Dix

Of my English friends, I should find language too poor to speak the just praise and the excellence which shines in their characters and lives. — Dorothea Dix

I proceed, gentlemen, to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within the commonwealth; in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens; chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience. — Dorothea Dix

A virtuous character is likened to an unblemished flower. Piety is a fadeless bud that half opens on earth and expands through eternity. Sweetness of temper is the odor of fresh blooms, and the amaranth flowers of pure affection open but to bloom forever. — Dorothea Dix

They say, 'Nothing can be done here!' I reply, 'I know no such word in the vocabulary I adopt!' — Dorothea Dix

Your minds may now be likened to a garden, which will, if neglected, yield only weeds and thistles; but, if cultivated, will produce the most beautiful flowers, and the most delicious fruits. — Dorothea Dix

That statesman is indeed happy who can count as his friends the really honest and consistent, the true Patriots, and the men of honorable thought. — Dorothea Dix

No blessing, no good, can follow in the path trodden by slavery. — Dorothea Dix

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. — Dorothea Dix

Think how slow would be your progress in learning without printed books: you could study only manuscripts, and those necessarily must be very few in number. Learn from this to value your books, and always handle them with care. — Dorothea Dix

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

Society during the last hundred years has been alternately perplexed and encouraged respecting the two great questions: how shall the criminal and pauper be disposed of in order to reduce crime and reform the criminal on the one hand and, on the other, to diminish pauperism and restore the pauper to useful citizenship? — Dorothea Dix

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. — Dorothea Dix

I worship talents almost. I sinfully dare mourn that I possess them not. — Dorothea Dix

It is of no use to commit whole pages to memory, merely to recite them once without hesitation; you must think of the meaning more than the words - of the ideas more than the language. — Dorothea Dix

The French, perhaps more than any other nation, cherish the memory of their dead by ornamenting their places of sepulture with the finest flowers, often renewing the garlands and replacing such plants as decay with vigorous and costly ones. — Dorothea Dix

Happy are those who dwell apart from the harrowing tumults of public life! — Dorothea Dix

In proportion as my own discomfort has increased, my conviction of necessity to search into the wants of the friendless and afflicted has deepened. If I am cold, they too are cold; if I am weary, they are distressed; if I am alone, they are abandoned. — Dorothea Dix

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

I may be too craving of that rich gift, the power of sharing other minds. I have drunk deeply, long, and oh! how blissfully at this fountain in a foreign clime. Hearts met hearts, minds joined with minds; and what were the secondary trials of pain to the enfeebled, suffering body when daily was administered the soul's medicine and food! — Dorothea Dix

Jasmine, the name of which signifies fragrance, is the emblem of delicacy and elegance. It is reared with difficulty in New England, but at the South, puts forth all its graces. — Dorothea Dix

The capsules of the geranium furnish admirable barometers. Fasten the beard, when fully ripe, upon a stand, and it will twist itself or untwist, according as the air is moist or dry. — Dorothea Dix

Time passed solely in the pursuit of pleasure leaves no solid enjoyment for the future; but from the hours you spend in reading and studying useful books, you will gather a golden harvest in future years. — Dorothea Dix

Be of good cheer, for sadness cannot heal the national wounds. — Dorothea Dix

But the truth is the highest consideration. — Dorothea Dix

By all means, have you give great attention to your arithmetic, as its advantages are so many and important. — Dorothea Dix

I would be cautious in embracing or rejecting doctrines. Had they been essential to our salvation, they would have been more explicitly declared in the Gospels, where we are so well taught the practice of every good word and work. — Dorothea Dix

The tapestry of history has no point at which you can cut it and leave the design intelligible. — Dorothea Dix

Nothing seems to me so likely to make people unhappy in themselves and at variance with others as the habit of killing time. — Dorothea Dix

There is, I think, great difficulty in writing of one's self: it is almost impossible to present subjects where the chief actor must be conspicuous and not seem to be, or really be, egotistical. — Dorothea Dix

The fact is that, in all prisons everywhere, cruelties on the one hand and injudicious laxity of discipline on the other have at times appeared and will, at intervals, be renewed except the most vigilant oversight is maintained. — Dorothea Dix

I shall be well enough when I get to Kentucky or Alabama. The tonic I need is the tonic of opposition. That always sets me on my feet. — Dorothea Dix

My happiest hours are spent in school, surrounded by those I hope to benefit. — Dorothea Dix

There is, in our nature, a disposition to indulgence, a secret desire to escape from labor, which, unless hourly combated, will overcome and destroy the best faculties of our minds and paralyze our most useful powers. — Dorothea Dix

All my habits through life have been singularly removed from any condition of reliance on others, and the feeling - right or wrong - that aloneness is my proper position has prevailed since my early childhood, no doubt nourished and strengthened by many and quick-following bereavements. — Dorothea Dix

What child has ever known the country and has not twined hundreds of fragrant wreaths with the yellow shining cowslip and the more frail and delicate violet - mingling here and there green leaves culled from the odorous eglantine, or, as we more commonly call it, sweetbriar. — Dorothea Dix