Ballou Quotes & Sayings

For mine is the old belief ... There is a soil in every leaf. — Maturin Murray Ballou

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage. — Hosea Ballou

Purity in person and in morals is true godliness. — Hosea Ballou

Remember, when incited to slander, that it is only he among you who is without sin that may cast the first stone. — Hosea Ballou

How many does it take to metamorphose wickedness into righteousness? One man must not kill. If he does, it is murder ... But a state or nation may kill as many as they please, and it is not murder. It is just, necessary, commendable, and right. Only get people enough to agree to it, and the butchery of myriads of human beings is perfectly innocent. But how many does it take? — Adin Ballou

Obedience sums up our entire duty. — Hosea Ballou

Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness. — Hosea Ballou

Experience is retrospect knowledge. — Hosea Ballou

The law of heaven is love. — Hosea Ballou

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction. — Hosea Ballou

Reproof, especially as it relates to children, administered in all gentleness, will render the culprit not afraid, but ashamed to repeat the offence. — Hosea Ballou

It is my humble prayer that I may be of some use in my day and generation. — Hosea Ballou

To talk of luck and chance only shows how little we really know of the laws which govern cause and effect. — Hosea Ballou

It is very questionable, in my mind, how far we have the right to judge one of another, since there is born within every man the germs of both virtue and vice. The development of one or the other is contingent upon circumstances. — Hosea Ballou

Of all the ingenious mistakes into which erring man has fallen, perhaps none have been so pernicious in their consequences, or have brought so many evils into the world, as the popular opinion that the way of the transgressor is pleasant and easy. — Hosea Ballou

The cloudy weather melts at length into beauty, and the brightest smiles of the heart are born of its tears. — Hosea Ballou

It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice. — Hosea Ballou

How white are the fair robes of Charity as she walketh amid the lowly habitations of the poor! — Hosea Ballou

It is in sickness that we most feel the need of that sympathy which shows how much we are dependent upon one another for our comfort, and even necessities. Thus disease, opening our eyes to the realities of life, is an indirect blessing. — Hosea Ballou

Hatred is self-punishment. — Hosea Ballou

Most people who commit a sin count on some personal benefit to be derived therefrom, but profanity has not even this excuse. — Hosea Ballou

Prosperity is very liable to bring pride among the other goods with which it endows an individual; it is then that prosperity costs too dear. — Hosea Ballou

The act of divine worship is the inestimable privilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration. — Hosea Ballou

Education commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within hearsay of little children tends toward the formation of character. — Hosea Ballou

Between the humble and contrite heart and the majesty of Heaven there are no barriers; the only password is prayer. — Hosea Ballou

Be more careful of your conscience than of your estate. The latter can be bought and sold; the former never. — Hosea Ballou

Preaching is to much avail, but practice is far more effective. A godly life is the strongest argument you can offer the skeptic. — Hosea Ballou

There is no immunity from the consequences of sin; punishment is swift and sure to one and all. — Hosea Ballou

A chaste and lucid style is indicative of the same personal traits in the author. — Hosea Ballou

The oppression of any people for opinion's sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important. — Hosea Ballou

There is no doubt that religious fanatics have done more to prejudice the cause they affect to advocate than have its opponents. — Hosea Ballou

Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine. — Hosea Ballou

If our Creator has so bountifully provided for our existence here, which is but momentary, and for our temporal wants, which will soon be forgotten, how much more must He have done for our enjoyment in the everlasting world? — Hosea Ballou

Forty is the old age of youth, fifty is the youth of old age. — Hosea Ballou

Not the least misfortune in a prominent falsehood is the fact that tradition is apt to repeat it for truth. — Hosea Ballou

Few things in this world more trouble people than poverty, or the fear of poverty; and, indeed, it is a sore affliction; but, like all other ills that flesh is heir to, it has its antidote, its reliable remedy. The judicious application of industry, prudence and temperance is a certain cure. — Hosea Ballou

All our possessions are as nothing compared to health, strength, and a clear conscience. — Hosea Ballou

You may get a large amount of truth into a brief space. — Maturin Murray Ballou

A wise Providence consoles our present afflictions by joys borrowed from the future. — Hosea Ballou

That kind of discipline whose pungent severity is in the manifestations of paternal love, compassion, and tenderness is the most sure of its object. — Hosea Ballou

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. — Hosea Ballou

Error is always more busy than truth. — Hosea Ballou

It is the goodly outside that sin puts on which tempteth to destruction. It has been said that sin is like the bee, with honey in its mouth, but a sting in its tail. — Hosea Ballou

Moderation is the key to lasting enjoyment. — Hosea Ballou

Liberality should be tempered with judgment, not with profuseness. — Hosea Ballou

Our blessings are the least heeded, because the most common events of life. — Hosea Ballou

No outward change need trouble him who is inwardly serene. — Hosea Ballou

You cannot judge by outward appearances; the soul is only transparent to its Maker. — Hosea Ballou

Rage is mental imbecility. — Hosea Ballou

Prosperity often presages adversity. — Hosea Ballou

There is no such things as 'best' in the world of individuals. — Hosea Ballou

Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams. — Hosea Ballou

Envy may justly be called "the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity;" it is the most acid fruit that grows on the stock of sin, a fluid so subtle that nothing but the fire of divine love can purge it from the soul. — Hosea Ballou

True charity is spontaneous and finds its own occasion; it is never the offspring of importunity, nor of emulation. — Hosea Ballou

How quickly a truly benevolent act is repaid by the consciousness of having done it! — Hosea Ballou

Doubt that creed which you cannot reduce to practice. — Hosea Ballou

Some clergymen make a motto, instead of a theme, of their texts. — Hosea Ballou

O sin, how you paint your face! how you flatter us poor mortals on to death! You never appear to the sinner in your true character; you make fair promises, but you never fulfil one; your tongue is smoother than oil, but the poison of asps is under your lip! — Hosea Ballou

Faith, in order to be genuine and of any real value, must be the offspring of that divine love which Jesus manifested when He prayed for His enemies on the cross. — Hosea Ballou

There is one court whose findings are incontrovertible, and whose sessions are held in the chambers of our own breast. — Hosea Ballou

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not falter. I know how strongly American civilization now leans on the triumph of the government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. — Sullivan Ballou

Ministers who threaten death and destruction employ weapons of weakness. Argument and kindness are alone effectual, flavored by the principles of Divine love. — Hosea Ballou

It is better to be the builder of our own name than to be indebted by descent for the proudest gifts known to the books of heraldry. — Hosea Ballou

We must not only read the Scriptures, but we must make their rules of life our own. — Hosea Ballou

There is no such thing as "best" in the world of individuals. — Hosea Ballou

Energy, like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains. — Hosea Ballou

[M]y love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break ... — Sullivan Ballou

The heavens and the earth, the woods and the wayside, teem with instruction and knowledge to the curious and thoughtful. — Hosea Ballou

The eye is the inlet to the soul, and it is well to beware of him whose visual organs avoid your honest regard. — Hosea Ballou

The goodness of God to mankind is no less evinced in the chastisement with which He corrects His children than in the smiles of His providence; for the Lord will not cast off forever, but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. — Hosea Ballou

Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devil's propagation. — Hosea Ballou

The secret to youth is to fill your mind with beauty! Amen — Linda Ballou

Everything in the world exists to end up in a book. — Hosea Ballou

There is nothing that needs to be said in an unkind manner. — Hosea Ballou

Books of quotation are not only of importance to the reader for what they contain of matured thought, but also for what they suggest. Our brains receive the spark and become luminous, like inflammable material by the contact of flint and steel. — Maturin Murray Ballou

True sympathy is putting ourselves in another's place; and we are moved in proportion to the reality of our imagination. — Hosea Ballou

Servility is disgusting to a truly noble character, and engenders only contempt. — Hosea Ballou

Look at you - instead of being dressed for success, you're dressed to depress. — Mardi Ballou

Though ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue. — Hosea Ballou

Never be so brief as to become obscure. — Hosea Ballou

Unless we find repose within ourselves, it is vain to seek it elsewhere. — Hosea Ballou

A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page. — Hosea Ballou

Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant, remains fruitless. — Hosea Ballou

No reproof or denunciation is so potent as the silent influence of a good example. — Hosea Ballou

A mother's love, in a degree, sanctifies the most worthless offspring. — Hosea Ballou

Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable. — Hosea Ballou

A good smile is the sunshine of wisdom. — Hosea Ballou

But now, instead of discussion and argument, brute force rises up to the rescue of discomfited error, and crushes truth and right into the dust. 'Might makes right,' and hoary folly totters on in her mad career escorted by armies and navies. — Adin Ballou

Be circumspect in your dealings, and let the seed you plant be the offspring of prudence and care; thus fruit follows the fair blossom, as honor follows a good life. — Hosea Ballou

There is no better rule to try a doctrine by than the question, Is it merciful, or is it unmerciful? If its character is that of mercy, it has the image of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. — Hosea Ballou

Moderation is the key of lasting enjoyment. — Hosea Ballou

If gratitude is due from children to their earthly parent, how much more is the gratitude of the great family of men due to our father in heaven. — Hosea Ballou

Has not God borne with you these many years? Be ye tolerant to others. — Hosea Ballou

Hypocrisy is oftenest clothed in the garb of religion. — Hosea Ballou

Duty itself is supreme delight when love is the inducement and labor. By such a principle the ignorant are enlightened, the hard-hearted softened, the disobedient reformed, and the faithful encouraged. — Hosea Ballou

We were just about the last ones to leave. Reverend Ballou took Joseph's hand to shake it, and Joseph said, "How much of that story is true?" Reverend Ballou considered this. "I think it all has to be true, or none of it," he said. "The angels?" said Joseph. "Really?" "Why not?" said Reverend Ballou. "Because bad things happen," said Joseph. "If there were angels, then bad things wouldn't happen." "Maybe angels aren't always meant to stop bad things." "So what good are they?" "To be with us when bad things happen." Joseph looked at him. "Then where the hell were they?" he said. I thought Reverend Ballou was going to start bawling. — Gary D. Schmidt

Man, being not only a religious, but also a social being, requires for the promotion of his rational happiness religious institutions, which, while they give a proper direction to devotion, at the same time make a wise and profitable improvement of his social feelings. — Hosea Ballou

It is vain to trust in wrong; it is like erecting a building upon a frail foundation, and which will directly be sure to topple over. — Hosea Ballou

Inch by inch it's all a cinch, by the yard it's hard. Go for it
no matter how slow or long the process seems at first. — Mardi Ballou

Self-respect is the best of all. — Hosea Ballou