Moral prejudices are the stopgaps of virtue; and, as is the case with other stopgaps, it is often more difficult to get either out or in through them than through any other part of the fence. Augustus William Hare More Quotes by Augustus William Hare More Quotes From Augustus William Hare Some men so dislike the dust kicked up by the generation they belong to, that, being unable to pass, they lag behind it. Augustus William Hare progress dust men Books, as Dryden has aptly termed them, are spectacles to read nature. Aeschylus and Aristotle, Shakespeare and Bacon, are priests who preach and expound the mysteries of man and the universe. They teach us to understand and feel what we see, to decipher and syllable the hieroglyphics of the senses. Augustus William Hare hieroglyphics men book We look to our last sickness for repentance, unmindful that it is during a recovery men repent, not during a sickness. Augustus William Hare recovery men looks Many men spend their lives in gazing at their own shadows, and so dwindle away into shadows thereof. Augustus William Hare gazing shadow men It is said that Windham, when he came to the end of a speech, often found himself so perplexed by his own subtlety that he hardly knew which way he was going to give his vote. This is a good illustration of the fallaciousness of reasoning, and of the uncertainties which attend its practical application. Augustus William Hare illustration speech giving How deeply rooted must unbelief be in our hearts when we are surprised to find our prayers answered. Augustus William Hare rooted prayer heart They who disbelieve in virtue because man has never been found perfect, might as reasonably deny the sun because it is not always noon. Augustus William Hare noon perfect men The body too has its rights; and it will have them: they cannot be trampled on without peril. The body ought to be the soul's best friend. Many good men however have neglected to make it such: so it has become a fiend and has plagued them. Augustus William Hare soul rights men Philosophy is the love of wisdom: Christianity is the wisdom of love. Augustus William Hare christianity philosophy I was surprised just now at seeing a cobweb around a knocker; for it was not on the door of heaven. Augustus William Hare cobwebs doors heaven The ablest writer is only a gardener first, and then a cook: his tasks are, carefully to select and cultivate his strongest and most nutritive thoughts; and when they are ripe, to dress them, wholesomely, and yet so that they may have a relish. Augustus William Hare tasks dresses may Instead of watching the bird as it flies above our heads, we chase his shadow along the ground; and, finding we cannot grasp it, we conclude it to be nothing. Augustus William Hare findings shadow bird Mythology is not religion. It may rather be regarded as the ancient substitute, the poetical counterpart, for dogmatic theology. Augustus William Hare ancient substitutes may Some minds are made of blotting-paper: you can write nothing on them distinctly. They swallow the ink, and you find a large spot. Augustus William Hare ink mind writing We like slipping, but not falling; our real anxiety is to be tempted enough. Augustus William Hare real motivational fall Is bread the better for kneading? so is the heart. Knead it then by spiritual exercises; or God must knead it by afflictions. Augustus William Hare spiritual wise heart Leaves are light, and useless, and idle, and wavering, and changeable; they even dance; and yet God in his wisdom has made them a part of oaks. And in so doing he has given us a lesson, not to deny the stout-heartedness within because we see the lightsomeness without. Augustus William Hare useless light wise How idle it is to call certain things God-sends! as if there was anything else in the world. Augustus William Hare certain god world Few take advice, or physic, without wry faces at it. Augustus William Hare wry faces advice I suspect we have internal senses. The mind's eye since Shakespeare's time has been proverbial; and we have also a mind's ear. To say nothing of dreams, one certainly can listen to one's own thoughts, and hear them, or believe that one hears them: the strongest argument adducible in favour of our hearing any thing. Augustus William Hare eye dream believe
