46 quotes
Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher (1795–1881)
“Love is ever the beginning of Knowledge as fire is of light.”
"Biography is the only true history."
on History
"My books are friends that never fai"
on Wisdom
"There is endless merit in a man's knowing when to have done."
"The whole universe is but a huge Symbol of god"."
on Religion
"Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better."
on Communication
"Such I hold to be the genuine use of Gunpowder: that it makes all men tall."
on Philosophy
"Of all the things which man can do or make here below, by far the most momentous, wonderful, and worthy are the things we call books."
on Writing
"The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong."
on Strength
"Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man but for one man who can stand prosperity there are a hundred that will stand adversity."
on Resilience
"The eternal stars shine out as soon as it is dark enough."
on Hope
"He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything"
on Health
"Acorns are planted silently by some unnoticed breeze."
on Nature
"The courage we desire and prize is not the courage to die decently but to live manfully."
on Courage
"I grow daily to honor facts more and more and theory less and less."
"The greatest of faults I should say is to be conscious of none."
"Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight."
"No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men."
on Character
"History a distillation of rumor"
"It is the heart always that sees before the head can see."
on Love
"The man who cannot laugh is not only fit for treasons strategems and spoils but his whole life is already a treason and a stratagem."
on Emotion
