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In truth, there is no religion, no worship in our prosperity and ease. So far as we are happy, we are in a state of satisfied desire; so far as we are religious, we are in a state of aspiration and unsatisfied desire.

— James Martineau

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Ambition

More quotes by James Martineau

There is no room in the universe for the least contempt or pride; but only for a gentle and a reverent heart.

Hours of Thought on Sacred Things (1879)

There is no human life so poor and small as not to hold many a divine possibility.

Trust arises from the mind's instinctive feeling after fixed realities, after the substance of every shadow, the base of all appearance, the everlasting amid change.

Hours of Thought on Sacred Things (1879)

God loves our mercy to one another; but not upon conditions at variance with sanctity to Him.

Religion is no more possible without prayer than poetry without language, or music without atmosphere.

All James Martineau quotes →

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Men accept servility in order to acquire wealth; as if they could acquire anything of their own when they cannot even assert that they belong to themselves.

Étienne de La Boétie Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (1548)

To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

Confucius

The poor, by thinking unceasingly of money, reach the point of losing the spiritual advantages of non-possession, thereby sinking as low as the rich.

Emil Cioran The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.

Jean de La Bruyère Les Caractères (1688)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: James Martineau (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.