Julia Ward Howe Quotes & Sayings

Beneath all differences of doctrine or discipline there exists a fundamental agreement as to the simple, absolute essentials in religion. — Julia Ward Howe

The strokes of the pen need deliberation as much as the sword needs swiftness. — Julia Ward Howe

I am confirmed in my division of human energies. Ambitious people climb, but faithful people build. — Julia Ward Howe

All the sugar was in the bottom of the cup. — Julia Ward Howe

There is no hell like that of a selfish heart, and there is no misfortune so great as that of not being able to make a sacrifice. These two thoughts come to me strongly this morning. It is something to have learned these truths so that we can never again doubt them. — Julia Ward Howe

Every fallen woman represents a man as guilty as herself, who escapes human detection, but whose soul lies open before God. — Julia Ward Howe

The greatest evils of society are goods that have refused to go on, but have sat down on the highway, saying to the world, We stop here; do you stop also. — Julia Ward Howe

Theology in general seems to me a substitution of human ingenuity for divine wisdom. — Julia Ward Howe

Education keeps the key of life; and liberal education insures the first conditions of freedom,
namely, adequate knowledge and accustomed thought. — Julia Ward Howe

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace. — Julia Ward Howe

I think nothing is religion which puts one individual absolutely above others, and surely nothing is religion which puts one sex above another. — Julia Ward Howe

I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps, I have read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps, His Day is marching on. — Julia Ward Howe

I take refuge in my books. — Julia Ward Howe

Charity is an unending self-discipline which always looks and leads towards the eternal affection. Therefore, its triumph shall be lasting and everlasting. — Julia Ward Howe

God forgive me if I do wrong in following with ardor the strongest instincts of my nature. — Julia Ward Howe

Many a woman will pass for elegant in a ballroom, or even at a court drawing room, whose want of true breeding would become evident in a chosen company. — Julia Ward Howe

It is always legitimate to wish to rise above one's self, never above others. — Julia Ward Howe

It has been strange to me to return to life and to feel that I have any sympathy with human beings, after the long interval of quiet and indifference which succeeded my marriage. — Julia Ward Howe

Familiarity so dulls the edge of perception as to make us least acquainted with things forming part of our daily life. — Julia Ward Howe

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on. — Julia Ward Howe

We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. — Julia Ward Howe

While your life is the true expression of your faith, whom can you fear? — Julia Ward Howe

Boston is an oasis in the desert, a place where the larger proportion of people are loving, rational and happy. — Julia Ward Howe

Don't you think that the best things are already in view? — Julia Ward Howe

The reason why education is usually so poor among women of fashion is, that it is not needed for the life which they elect to lead. — Julia Ward Howe

Politeness induces morality. Serenity of manners requires serenity of mind. — Julia Ward Howe

How utterly are one's best thoughts invaded by this going out in society. — Julia Ward Howe

The blind must not only be fed and housed and cared for; they must learn to make thir lives useful to the community. — Julia Ward Howe

I know not why there is such a melancholy feeling attached to the remembrance of past happiness, except that we fear that the future can have nothing so bright as the past. — Julia Ward Howe

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on. — Julia Ward Howe

When I see the elaborate study and ingenuity displayed by women in the pursuit of trifles, I feel no doubt of their capacity for the most herculean undertakings. — Julia Ward Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: / He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored ... — Julia Ward Howe

As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free. — Julia Ward Howe

Marriage, like death, is a debt we owe to nature. — Julia Ward Howe

Disarm, disarm. The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. — Julia Ward Howe

I sometimes think God allows Great Britain to be unprincipled for the good of mankind. — Julia Ward Howe

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat. Oh! be swift my soul to answer him, be jubilant my feet! Our God is marching on. — Julia Ward Howe

I never could be good when I was not happy. — Julia Ward Howe

I want to take the word Christianity back to Christ himself, back to that mighty heart whose pulse seems to throb through the world to-day, that endless fountain of charity out of which I believe has come all true progress and all civilization that deserves the name .. I go back to that great Spirit which contemplated a sacrifice for the whole of humanity. That sacrifice is not one of exclusion, but of an infinite and endless and joyous inclusion. And I thank God for it. — Julia Ward Howe

The frozen ocean ... of Boston life. — Julia Ward Howe

I have never known my husband to approve any act of mine which I myself valued. — Julia Ward Howe

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave, He is wisdom to the mighty, he is succour to the brave, So the world shall be his footstool, and the soul of Time his slave, Our God is marching on. — Julia Ward Howe

The language of the face is not taught by the schools; it is intuitive, and to the observant is always legible. — Julia Ward Howe

Every life has its actual blanks, which the ideal must fill up, or which else remain bare & profitless forever. — Julia Ward Howe

I was born 'neath a clouded star. — Julia Ward Howe

Much of the work of every life is done in the dark. — Julia Ward Howe

When the unwelcome little unborn shall have seen the light my brain will be lightened, and I shall have a clearer mind. Thank God that even this weary nine months shall come to an end and leave me in possession of my own body and my own soul. — Julia Ward Howe

Any religion which sacrifices women to the brutality of men is no religion. — Julia Ward Howe

Hope died as I was led unto my marriage bed. — Julia Ward Howe

When I behold the passion for ornamentation, and the corresponding power, I feel as if women had so far shown what they are bad for, rather than what they are good for. — Julia Ward Howe

The flag of our stately battles, not struggles of wrath and greed,
Its stripes were a holy lesson, its spangles a deathless creed:
'T was red with the blood of freemen and white with the fear of the foe;
And the stars that fight in their courses 'gainst tyrants its symbols know. — Julia Ward Howe

Every newly discovered truth judges the world, separates the good from the evil, and calls on faithful souls to make sure of their election. — Julia Ward Howe

In Virgil's account of the good housewife, who rises early in order to measure out the work of the household, and in Solomon's description of the thrifty woman of his time, one sees the value set upon feminine industry and economy in times far removed from our own. — Julia Ward Howe

It is not good for beauty that it should be a profession. — Julia Ward Howe

Massachusetts women as a rule adhere too strongly to old-time conventions. — Julia Ward Howe

My children are babies and my husband has scarcely half an hour in 24 to give me. — Julia Ward Howe

Life is like a cup of tea, the sugar is all at the bottom! — Julia Ward Howe

I shall stick to my resolution of writing always what I think no matter whom it offends. — Julia Ward Howe

In the nature of things, I must soon lose sight of this sense of constant metamorphosis whose limits bound our human life. — Julia Ward Howe

The broken eggshell of a civilization which time has hatched and devoured. — Julia Ward Howe

Heaven knows what I have not been through with, since I saw you-dust, dirt, dyspepsia, hotels, railroads, prairies, tobacco juice. — Julia Ward Howe