John Lancaster Spalding
John Lancaster Spalding
John Lancaster Spaldingwas an American author, poet, advocate for higher education, the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria from 1877 to 1908 and a co-founder of The Catholic University of America...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth2 June 1840
CountryUnited States of America
errors causes common
It is a common error to imagine that to be stirring and voluble in a worthy cause is to be good and to do good.
wise eye exercise
A Wise man knows that much of what he says and does is commonplace and trivial. His thoughts are not all solemn and sacred in his own eyes. He is able to laugh at himself and is not offended when others make him a subject whereon to exercise their wit.
spring love-is joy
Few know the joys that spring from a disinterested curiosity. It is like a cheerful spirit that leads us through worlds filled with what is true and fair, which we admire and love because it is true and fair.
principles
Base thy life on principle, not on rules.
thinking years interesting
It is not difficult to grasp and express thoughts that float on the stream of current opinion: but to think and rightly utter what is permanently true and interesting, what shall appeal to the best minds a thousand years hence, as it appeals to them to-day, this is the work of genius.
vanity despair doctrine
The doctrine of the utter vanity of life is a doctrine of despair, and life is hope.
important important-things knows
The important thing is how we know, not what or how much.
athlete office battle
Thy money, thy office, thy reputation are nothing; put away these phantom clothings, and stand like an athlete stripped for the battle.
children passion men
Passion is begotten of passion, and it easily happens, as with the children of great men, that the base is the offspring of the noble.
masters
We are not masters of the truth which is borne in upon us: it overpowers us.
men giving littles
If we are disappointed that men give little heed to what we utter is it for their sake or our own?
memories useless and-love
To cultivate the memory we should confide to it only what we understand and love: the rest is a useless burden; for simply to know by rote is not to know at all.
believe passion ideas
We have no sympathy with those who are controlled by ideas and passions which we neither understand nor feel. Thus they who live to satisfy the appetites do not believe it possible to live in and for the soul.
lying zest harvest
The zest of life lies in right doing, not in the garnered harvest.