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The object of preaching is, constantly to remind mankind of what mankind are constantly forgetting; not to supply the defects of human intelligence, but to fortify the feebleness of human resolutions.

— Sydney Smith

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Religion

More quotes by Sydney Smith

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.

Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849)

Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl
And, scarce suspected, animate the whole.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

Great men hallow a whole people and lift up all who live in their time.

It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

Economy, in the estimation of common minds, often means the absence of all taste and comfort.

Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

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All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Thomas Babington Macaulay History of England (1849)

Attribution

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