118 quotes
Just laws are no restraint upon the freedom of the good, for the good man desires nothing which a just law will interfere with.
Morality rests upon a sense of obligation; and obligation has no meaning except as implying a Divine command, without which it would cease to be.
The moral of human life is never simple, and the moral of a story which aims only at being true to human life cannot be expected to be any more so.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
The war of good and evil is mightiest in mightiest souls, and even in the darkest time the heart will maintain its right against the hardest creed.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
I am convinced with Plato, with St. Paul, with St. Augustine, with Calvin, and with Leibnitz, that this universe, and every smallest portion of it, exactly fulfils the purpose for which Almighty God designed it.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
Long devotions are a weariness to healthy children.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
I think there is a spiritual scent in us which feels mischief coming, as they say birds scent storms.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
Of all the evil spirits abroad at this hour in the world, insincerity is the most dangerous.
Sacrifice is the first element of religion, and resolves itself in theological language into the love of God.
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
Woe to the unlucky man who as a child is taught, even as a portion of his creed, what his grown reason must forswear.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
As we advance in life, we learn the limits of our abilities.
Man is a real man, and can live and act manfully in this world, not in the strength of opinions, not according to what he thinks, but according to what he is.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
Our characters change as world eras change, as our features change, slowly from day to day.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
Nature made us men, and she surrenders not her children without a struggle.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
I would not so dishonour God as to lend my voice to perpetuate all the mad and foolish things which men have dared to say of Him.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
He went down to hell, but it was to break the chains, not to bind them.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
Who shall say that those poor peasants were not acting in the spirit we most venerate, most adore; that theirs was not the true heart language which we cannot choose but love?
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
Truth only smells sweet forever, and illusions, however innocent, are deadly as the canker worm.
The best that we can do for one another is to exchange our thoughts freely; and that, after all, is but little.