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A bending staff I would not break,
A feeble faith I would not shake,
Nor even rashly pluck away
The error which some truth may stay,
Whose loss might leave the soul without
A shield against the shafts of doubt.

— John Greenleaf Whittier

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Faith

More quotes by John Greenleaf Whittier

O, brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother;
where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.

Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country's flag," she said.

Barbara Frietchie (1863)

The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun.

When faith is lost, when honor dies
The man is dead!

Life is ever lord of Death
And Love can never lose its own.

All John Greenleaf Whittier quotes →

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Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr (1787)

I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Attribution

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