Mather Quotes & Sayings

The Word of God must be Read and Heard with Diligence that so you may arrive to the Knowledge that is needful for you. — Cotton Mather

When in doubt - reconnoitre. It doesn't do the damnedest bit of good but it gives you time to think, and anyhow French words look and sound splendid in all military contexts. — Berkley Mather

You see, a witch has to have a familiar, some little animal like a cat or a toad. He helps her somehow. When the witch dies the familiar is suppose to die too, but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, if it's absorbed enough magic, it lives on. Maybe this toad found its way south from Salem, from the days when Cotton Mather was hanging witches. Or maybe Lafitte had a Creole girl who called on the Black Man in the pirate-haven of Barataria. The Gulf is full of ghosts and memories, and one of those ghosts might very well be that of a woman with warlock blood who'd come from Europe a long time ago, and died on the new continent.
And possibly her familiar didn't know the way home. There's not much room for magic in America now, but once there was room.
("Before I Wake ... ") — Henry Kuttner

Almost everything worth believing in cannot be seen. Love, for instance. — Adriana Mather

Puritan leaders, at least, valued an educated mind over material riches. Cotton Mather admonished his congregation with the comment, "If your main concern be to get the riches of this world for your children, and leave a belly full of this world unto them, it looks very suspiciously as if you were yourselves the people of this world, whose portion is only in this life."30 — Leland Ryken

You didn't want Mather to have the bowls, and you didn't want him to have me." He stared a moment. Then he leaned to her, suddenly fierce. "When I saw you, I knew I had to take you away from him. He had no idea what you were worth, just like he can't price the damn bowls. He's a philistine. — Jennifer Ashley

Let them no more say, God must do all, we can do nothing, and so encourage themselves to live in a careless neglect of God, and of their own souls, and salvation. Most certainly, altho' we cannot say, That if men improve their natural abilities as they ought to do, that grace will infallibly follow, yet there will not one sinner in all the reprobate world, stand forth at the day of judgment, and say, Lord, thou knowest I did all that possibly I could do, for the obtaining grace, and for all that, thou didst withhold it from me. — Increase Mather

Cotton Mather's publications in his own lifetime amounted to more than 400 titles, and his magnum opus, on which he labored most of his life, remains unpublished: a commentary on every verse of every book of the Bible. Anyone who leaves that kind of record behind issues an irresistible invitation to historians. — Edmund Morgan

What Must I Do to Be Saved? It is impossible to ask a more weighty Question! It is deplorable that we hear it asked with no more Frequency, with nor more Agony. — Cotton Mather

Our opportunities to do good are our talents. — Cotton Mather

My dad always says that you don't get to choose what happens in the world, only how you react to it. — Adriana Mather

The New England divine Cotton Mather puts it this way: "Exhibit as much as you can of a glorious Christ. Yea, let the motto upon your whole ministry be: Christ is all. Let others develop the pulpit fads that come and go. Let us specialize in preaching our Lord Jesus Christ. — Joel R. Beeke

Listen" said Mather. "I understand what you're going through, I really do. An Indian woman in college. I understand. I'm a Marxist."
Really," said Marie. "I'm a Libra. — Sherman Alexie

Mather lifts a white eyebrow. "You don't have to actually yell, if you don't want to. Slightly elevated whispering would be fine. — Sara Raasch

The cardiac calls require medical intervention. So an ambulance for a cardiac call requires a doctor, a ward boy and medical equipment. — Shaffi Mather

The TED Fellowship exposed me to a set of youngsters who had wilder ideas than I did - and almost all of them were pursuing their wild and crazy ideas without fear of failure. — Shaffi Mather

The evaluative criteria are then listed as: "1) storytelling quality; 2) photographic quality; 3) impact; 4) simplicity; 5) beauty" (Mich, 46). — Philippe Mather

The abundant life does not come to those who have had a lot of obstacles removed from their path by others. It develops from within and is rooted in strong mental and moral fiber. — William Mather Lewis

The New York Times, whose editorial department sounds like Cotton Mather rewriting Eleanor Roosevelt ... — William F. Buckley Jr.

Anytime there's even a hint of the government limiting the public's ability to buy guns, people go crazy about them taking away our freedom, but this new law that gives the government the right to spy into every aspect of your life, without your consent - barely a peep. A clear violation of the third and fourth amendments, but nobody says a word." He — Matthew Mather

Wilderness is a temporary condition through which we are passing to the Promised Land. — Cotton Mather

(Marie) ... It's not like we're planning a rebellion. We're just putting food in our cupboards. If eating is rebellious, then I guess we're the biggest rebels out there. Indians are just plain hungry. Not for power. Not for money. For food, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner ... "
(Dr. Mather) "There you go again, creating an antagonisitc situation. Don't you understand what I'm trying to teach? I'm trying to present a positive portrait of Indian peoples, of your people. Of you. I simply cannot do that if you insist on this kind of confrontational relationship ... — Sherman Alexie

I take the chakram, my eyes on Mather. "I'm not me without it, am I?"
A smile flips across his face before he shakes his head. "You're perfect the way you are. — Sara Raasch

You've fought for Winter so spectacularly, and I am more proud than I have ever been to call you my son. But don't forget to fight for yourself as well--there is no shame in that — Sara Raasch

This is a sappy way to put it, but the Winthrop who warns Williams is the Winthrop I fell in love with, the Winthrop Cotton Mather celebrates for sharing his firewood with the needy, the Winthrop who scolds Thomas Dudley for overcharging the poor, the Winthrop of 'Christian Charity,' who called for 'enlargement toward others' and 'brotherly affection,' admonishing that 'if thy brother be in want and thou canst help him ... if thou lovest God thou must help him. — Sarah Vowell

The official government radio station was still broadcasting that the New York Power Authority would have power back up to Con Edison and lower Manhattan — Matthew Mather

What if the kid you bullied at school, grew up, and turned out to be the only surgeon who could save your life? — Lynette Mather

...As if it's all so easy. If it's so easy, why don't we talk about it more?"

"It hurts too much," Mather says. Just that simple.

That makes me stop. I meet his eyes, a long, careful gaze. "Someday it won't hurt."

The promise we refugees always make one another - We'll be better . . . someday. — Sara Raasch

There is fundamental importance in living well even in hard times. By "living well," I mean finding a way to live that rings true to you and your values and that brings pleasure to your life. — Robin Mather

You've always been /everything/ to me. I didn't know how to handle how much I needed you growing up---snow, I still don't, all right? — Sara Raasch

Fear isn't the answer. If we're afraid of everything, then we're afraid to do anything, and that means we're giving up our freedom. — Matthew Mather

In the modern-day world, where time is premium and battle for subsistence is unimaginably tough, the hapless common man simply gives in and pays the bribe just to get on with life. — Shaffi Mather

Ah! destructive Ignorance, what shall be done to chase thee out of the World! — Cotton Mather

Ah, children, be afraid of going prayerless to bed, lest the Devil be your bedfellow. — Cotton Mather

The author relates the progress of inoculation against smallpox in America with the interaction between an African slave named Onisimus whose homeland knew how to treat the malady and and leading clergyman Cotton Mather who was curious and open-minded enough to listen to him. — Robert J. Allison

Cotton Mather is one of those classic figures of American history who can't be left out. One has to explain him or explain him away, redeem him or denounce him. — Edmund Morgan

Did I really travel ten thousand miles to watch a naked girl read a menu? Yes, I supposed I had. This is the difference between sexual fantasy and sexual reality, — Dana Aaron Mather

The separation between the cyber and the physical worlds was disappearing. Cyberbullying was just bullying, and cyberwar was just war - the true age of cyber began when we started removing it as a descriptor. — Matthew Mather

There is a social stigma attached to ambulance services, mostly because ambulances in India are often used as hearses for carrying the dead rather than transporting patients. We made presentations to graduating students at various healthcare institutes, trying to debunk this myth. — Shaffi Mather

You may ... make a little recreation of poetry, in the midst of your painful studies. Nevertheless, I cannot but advise you. Withhold thy throat from thirst. Be not so set upon poetry, as to be always poring on the passionate and measured pages ... let not the Circean cup intoxicate you. — Cotton Mather

Personally, I think consciousness is an accidental by-product, a feedback loop to conserve resources. — Matthew Mather

Having come from the U.S. and observed the way the health care system works there, we definitely felt that we could do something in India. — Shaffi Mather

That there is a Devil, is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil. — Cotton Mather

While I knew him, he made me see--Poe did; made me understand that, unlike a bodily organ, the soul desires, even wills, its own continuance.It can be said to be the seat of will and desire and, even in its necrotic state, the root of evil. ... A Sunday school lesson or one of Cotton Mather's gaudy rants that helped to kindle the Salem bonfires is nearer to the truth of it than a fable by Poe, Hawthorne, or Melville. Evil's a malignancy beyond the skill and scalpel of {doctors} to heal or extirpate. — Norman Lock

History is the story of events, with praise or blame. — Cotton Mather

Just the wrong perspective," he said. "We're squaring them up to be the enemy, but mostly because we need an enemy." "So you're saying you're wrong about the cyberthreat?" "No, but . . ." Chuck left his fork in the fries and picked up a shrimp with his fingers. "But what?" "Maybe we're blinding ourselves to the real enemy." "What enemy is that, my conspiracy-loving friend?" I asked, rolling my eyes, expecting some rhetoric about the CIA or NSA. Chuck finished shelling his shrimp and pointed it at me. "Fear. Fear is the real enemy." He looked up at the ceiling. "Fear and ignorance." I laughed. "With all this stuff you're stockpiling, aren't you the one that's afraid?" "Not afraid," he said deliberately, looking straight into my eyes. "Prepared." — Matthew Mather

Marie felt a sudden urge to smash the glass, break down the door, pull down the building. She wanted to tear apart the world. Mather would have never treated a white student that badly, nor would he have shut the door in the face of a man. At that moment, she wanted Dr. Mather to disappear. She wanted every white man to disappear. She wanted to burn them all down to ash and feast on their smoke. Hateful, powerful thoughts. She wondered what those hateful, powerful thoughts could create. — Sherman Alexie

Increase Mather, President of Harvard University, in his treatise on Remarkable Providences, insists that the smell of herbs alarms the Devil and that medicine expels him. Such beliefs have probably even now not wholly disappeared from among us. — James Henry Breasted

If a man fears dogs, he may beat one with a stick when he sees it. As is the nature of all creatures, that dog will bite him. And then he may tell everyone that he was right about dogs, that they are evil. But I ask you, who is at fault in this scenario, the man or the dog? — Adriana Mather

I followed the spiked iron fence around the church, 'First Church in Salem, Founded in 1629', the sign reads. The fence ends, and there's a big wooden trellis covered in vines. — Adriana Mather

Ignorance is the Mother not of Devotion, but of Heresy. — Cotton Mather

His was the profession at that era in which intellectual ability displayed itself far more than in political life; for - leaving a higher motive out of the question it offered inducements powerful enough in the almost worshipping respect of the community, to win the most aspiring ambition into its service. Even political power - as in the case of Increase Mather - was within the grasp of a successful priest. — Nathaniel Hawthorne

Have you ever seen that video, where one of the Apollo astronauts, standing on the moon, drops a hammer and a feather side by side?" Giovanni shook his head. "The hammer and feather fall at exactly the same speed, they hit the ground at the same time. Same experiment that Galileo did from the leaning tower, dropping a pebble and a cannon ball. They both hit the ground at almost the same time. It doesn't matter what the mass of an object is - a grain of sand or an elephant - if they experience the same gravitational field, they'll accelerate exactly the same. — Matthew Mather

Religion brought forth Prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother. — Cotton Mather

Ye monsters of the bubbling deep,
Your Maker's praises spout;
Up from the sands ye codlings peep,
And wag your tails about — Cotton Mather

You are young and have the world before you; stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard bumps. — Cotton Mather

We never know the journey another person has walked, so be kind to everyone. — Lynette Mather

Chuck out his hand in the pocket of his parka, — Matthew Mather

They were famous for having bad tempers, but then again, if you sprang into existence to discover that your Creators were human assholes, you'd be pissed off, too. — Matthew Mather

Charity ... is kind, it is not easily provok'd, it thinks no evil, it believes all things, hopes all things. — Cotton Mather

Mather smiles at me through it, some of his tension softening before he drops his head in a small bow. "My queen," he says in response. — Sara Raasch

Damon stared at me while Chuck read the message, a tendon in his neck flexing. "And we need more guns," said Chuck from between clenched teeth. — Matthew Mather

I realized some time ago that, while there are really, really high quality schools in urban India - my daughter attends one - there are very few high quality schools in rural India. And that is mostly because of the perception that there are not enough people to pay a reasonable fee in rural India. — Shaffi Mather

You have more power than you know, Samantha. You just have to be brave enough to realize it. — Adriana Mather

Trying to act normal with FBI running from office to office, was like trying to carry on a conversation when having a colonoscopy. — Matthew Mather

What was it that obliged Jerome to write his book, Concerning Illustrious Men? It was the common reproach of old cast upon Christians, 'That they were all poor, weak, unlearned men.' The sort of men sometime called 'Puritans' in the English nation have been reproached with the same character ... But when truth shall have liberty to speak, it will be known that Christianity never was more expressed unto the life than in the lives of the persons that have been thus reproached. — Cotton Mather

Be not so set upon poetry, as to be always poring on the passionate and measured pages. Let not what should be sauce, rather than food for you, engross all your application. Beware of a boundless and sickly appetite for the reading of poems which the nation now swarms withal; and let not the Circaen cup intoxicate you. But especially preserve the chastity of your soul from the dangers you may incur, by a conversation with muses no better than harlots. — Cotton Mather

The responsibility which rests upon man is proportional to the ability which he possesses and the opportunity which he faces. Perhaps that responsibility is no greater for him than was that of Notharctus or Eohippus or a trilobite, each in his own day, but because of man's unique abilities it is the greatest responsibility that has ever rested upon any of the earth's offspring. — Kirtley F. Mather

Instead of exhorting you to augment your charity, I will rather utter an exhortation, or at least a supplication, that you may not abuse your charity by misapplying it. — Cotton Mather

The stronger you stand on your principles, the easier it is to fight. The first time, it's tough, but the second time, it's always easier. You just have to push for your rights. — Shaffi Mather

When a character comes to life, it's like meeting a new friend for the first time. — Lynette Mather

The air's crisp with the smell of autumn, and the first few leaves have started to change color. The streets have that family-friendly feel. Store windows already have pumpkins and witches' hats in them. — Adriana Mather

Chrysostom, I remember, mentions a twofold book of God: the book of the creatures, and the book of the scriptures. God, having taught us first of all by his works, did it afterwards, by his Words. We will now for a while read the former of these books; 'twill help us in reading the latter. They will admirably assist one another. — Cotton Mather

There may be some so very Ignorant, that they know not how to Pray. — Cotton Mather

banana. Soon the boys were eating pudding with sliced bananas on — Anne D. Mather

I will now teach my son Increase (and others of my children) the way of raising a lesson out of every verse in his reading of the Bible; and of turning it into a Prayer; and engage him (and them) unto a daily Course in reading the Bible in such a way — Cotton Mather

It doesn't matter what I would do with magic, because leaders are valued for the wrong things. — Sara Raasch

Legitimate profit is good. What's bad is profiteering. — Shaffi Mather

The Internet is in cyberspace, but we" - he paused for effect - "are in meatspace, get it?" Opening — Matthew Mather

He saw no cracks in the fabric of existence that demanded a Creator. Not until his existence cracked around him. — Matthew Mather

It's not like they exactly agreed. They're just kinda silent about the whole thing," I say. "Group silence can be a death sentence. It was in Salem," he says. — Adriana Mather

Once Kimmy and Bobby walked in Taco Bell they saw their two friends already sitting at the table, and Kimmy and Bobby ordered their food before they joined them.
"What's up?" Manning asked.
"Not much, just hanging out," Bobby answered.
"And of course the two of you are always hanging out," Dave said, nodding toward Kimmy.
Kimmy smiled. "Of course we are always hanging out. That's what you do when you've got a best friend, Dave. You'll learn that maybe one day when you have a best friend. — Lynette Mather

Is this dying? Is this all? Is this what I feared when I prayed against a hard death? Oh, I can bear this! I can bear this! — Cotton Mather

But Mather's smile faded as he thought of what other provisions the charter contained. What would the godly say when they learned that the electorate was no longer to be limited to members of the Covenant but broadened to include propertied members of every Christian sect this side of papistry? This was a revolutionary innovation, whose consequences would be incalculable. Hitherto the limitation of the privilege of voting to the elect had been the very corner-stone of theocracy. It had been a wise and human provision designed to keep the faithful in control even when, as had long ago become the case, they were heavily outnumbered by lesser men without the Covenant. God who had not designated the majority of men to salvation surely never intended for the damned to rule. Yet now, under the new charter, it very much looked as if they might. — Marion L. Starkey

She is here amongst us, but she is not alone," one of the pixie dust angels told the queen of the woods.
"And?" the queen demanded.
"She is with some boy. Both look strange, if you ask me."
"Strange, how?" the queen asked.
"Strange. You know they don't look as we do."
"How do they look?" The queen turned and looked at the pixie angel with her purple eye that sat in the middle of her forehead.
"I don't know. They have things like the little people in Vanduesa."
"What things might you be referring to?" the queen's voice rose impatiently.
"You know those things that the little people get around with."
The queen laughed, revealing yellowing teeth. "Oh, the things the little people in Vanduesa refer to as legs."
"That's it." The pixie angel did an excited flip, and then nodded her head. — Lynette Mather

I was born on Mather Air Force Base near Sacramento, but we moved around a lot. — Carrie Vaughn

I wanted to be a soldier. Someone who would earn standing in Winter. Someone Sir would look at with pride. Someone Mather would look at and - — Sara Raasch

Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invisible World — Kevin Dunn

Being a writer is something I love to do, plus I get independence. It's a great job for a woman because she can work at home and always be there for the children. — Anne Mather

For me, the flow of information was an apt metaphor. As surfing became my obsession at a young age, my innovation had been to remap my tactile sense into the water around me. Sitting on my surfboard, bobbing up and down between the swells, I could feel the pressure, shape, and temperature of the water's surface around me through my skin. The thousands of neurons attached to each hair follicle could sense even tiny subsurface eddies and water currents. After nearly twenty years of dedicated practice, my brain had neuroplastically reformatted to devote a large part of itself to my water-sense, and I now had the most highly attuned tactile array of any pssi-kid, or for that matter anyone else in the world. Sitting with my eyes closed, I could feel the water moving and undulating around me as a perfectly natural and integral part of my body. I was one with the water, and it was one with me. — Matthew Mather

If we admit instrumental musick in the worship of God, how can we resist the imposition of all the instruments used among the ancient Jews? - yea, dancing as well as playing, and several other Judaic actions? or, how can we decline a whole rabble of church-officers, necessary to be introduced for instrumental musick, whereof our Lord Jesus Christ hath left us no manner of direction? — Cotton Mather

Some people will try to blow your candle out to make theirs shine brighter - don't let them! xx — Linda Mather

Families are the Nurseries of all Societies; and the First combinations of mankind. — Cotton Mather

People believe a lot of weird stuff in Salem. — Adriana Mather

A Good School deserves to be call'd, the very Salt of the Town, that hath it. — Cotton Mather

I learnt the hard way about positioning in business, about catering to the right segments. — Shaffi Mather

I threw my hands on my hips, shocked by the irony. A Mather helping a Greensmith? Hell was freezing over somewhere beneath our feet and every kind of farm animal was sprouting wings to fly. — Leigh Goff

The only meaning to life is the one that you give it, and don't let anyone tell you diffrent. — Mathew Mather

My life hadn't ended, but without anyone else in it, it had ceased to have any meaning. — Matthew Mather

If you wanted to see into the future, you just had to look to the past. Reaching — Matthew Mather