[U]sefulness is happiness, and... all other things are but incidental. Lydia M. Child More Quotes by Lydia M. Child More Quotes From Lydia M. Child I keep working because I am quite sure that no particle of goodness or truth is ever really lost, however appearances may be to the contrary. Lydia M. Child truth-is appearance may A human heart can never grow old if it takes a lively interest in the pairing of birds, the reproduction of flowers, and the changing tints of autumn leaves. Lydia M. Child autumn flower heart Childhood itself is scarcely more lovely than a cheerful, kindly, sunshiny old age. Lydia M. Child childhood birthday love If we really believed that those who are gone from us were as truly alive as ourselves, we could not invest the subject with such awful depth of gloom as we do. If we could imbue our children with distinct faith in immortality, we should never speak of people as dead, but passed into another world. We should speak of the body as a cast-off garment, which the wearer had outgrown; consecrated indeed by the beloved being that used it for a season, but of no value within itself. Lydia M. Child death children people England may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes as to fetter the step of Freedom, more proud and firm in this youthful land than where she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland, or couches herself among the magnificent mountains of Switzerland. Lydia M. Child freedom land water The eye of genius has always a plaintive expression, and its natural language is pathos. Lydia M. Child genius eye expression There have always been a large class of thinkers who deny that the world makes any progress. They say we move in a circle; that evils are never conquered, but only change their forms. Lydia M. Child circles class moving Work! work! that is my unfailing cure for all troubles. Lydia M. Child cures trouble work None speak of the bravery, the might, or the intellect of Jesus; but the devil is always imagined as a being of acute intellect, political cunning, and the fiercest courage. These universal and instinctive tendencies of the human mind reveal much. Lydia M. Child political bravery jesus Yours for the unshackled exercise of every faculty by every human being. Lydia M. Child diversity exercise justice Philosophy and the arts are but a manifestation of the intelligible ideas that move the public mind; and thus they become visible images of the nations whence they emanate. Lydia M. Child philosophy art moving All who strive to live for something beyond mere selfish aims find their capacities for doing good very inadequate to their aspirations. They do so much less than they want to do, and so much less than they, at the outset, expected to do, that their lives, viewed retrospectively, inevitably look like failure. Lydia M. Child selfish failure people Neither lemonade nor anything else can prevent the inroads of old age. At present, I am stoical under its advances, and hope I shall remain so. I have but one prayer at heart; and that is, to have my faculties so far preserved that I can be useful, in some way or other, to the last. Lydia M. Child prayer heart people In the first place, an unjust law exists in this Commonwealth, by which marriages between persons of different color is pronounced illegal. I am perfectly aware of the gross ridicule to which I may subject myself by alluding to this particular; but I have lived too long, and observed too much, to be disturbed by the world's mockery. Lydia M. Child color law long In the first place, the government ought not to be invested with power to control the affections, any more than the consciences of citizens. A man has at least as good a right to choose his wife, as he has to choose his religion. His taste may not suit his neighbors; but so long as his deportment is correct, they have no right to interfere with his concerns. Lydia M. Child wife men long I do not know how the affair at Canterbury is generally considered; but I have heard individuals of all parties and all opinions speak of it and never without merriment or indignation. Fifty years hence, the black laws of Connecticut will be a greater source of amusement to the antiquarian, than her famous blue laws. Lydia M. Child party blue years It is impossible to exaggerate the evil work theology has done in the world. Lydia M. Child done evil world I think we have reason to thank God for Abraham Lincoln. With all his deficiencies, it must be admitted that he has grown continually. Lydia M. Child thank-god reason thinking Even if nothing worse than wasted mental effort could be laid to the charge of theology, that alone ought to be sufficient to banish it from the earth ... What a vast amount of labour and learning has been expended, as uselessly as emptying shallow puddles into sieves! How much intellect has been employed mousing after texts, to sustain preconceived doctrines! Lydia M. Child puddles doctrine effort It is wonderful how shy even liberal ministers generally are about trusting people with the plain truth concerning their religion. They want to veil it in a supernatural haze. They are very reluctant to part with the old idea that God has given to Jews and Christians a peculiar monopoly of truth. It is a selfish view of God's government of the world, and it is time that we knew enough to outgrow it. Lydia M. Child selfish government christian
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