Quotessence
Home / Authors / William Ellery Channing
William Ellery Channing

William Ellery Channing Quotes

Preacher

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenMindGivingMayHumansSoulShouldVirtueBookIfsSpiritInspirationalWorldConscienceDutyWarCharacterEndsGrowsInterest

Famous William Ellery Channing Quotes

“Innocent amusements are such as excite moderately, and such as produce a cheerful frame of mind, not boisterous mirth; such as refresh, instead of exhausting, the system; such as recur frequently, rather than continue long; such as send us back to our daily duties invigorated in body and spirit; such as we can partake of in the presence and society of respectable friends; such as consist with and are favorable to a grateful piety; such as are chastened by self-respect, and are accompanied with the consciousness that life has a higher end than to be amused.”

LifeMindLongEndsSelfBodySpiritFunConsciousnessProduceDutyHigherGratefulInnocentSelf RespectCheerfulAmusementRespectablePietyExhaustingAmusedMirthFrame Of MindBoisterous
Author:William Ellery Channing
Create image

“I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith, which opens itself to light whencesoever it may come, which receives new truth as an angel from Heaven.”

MenMindMayDoeLightHeavenRightsMastersRevolutionIntellectualAngelPassiveHereditaryJealouslyMind Free
Book:The works of Wm. Ellery Channing ...
Create image

“Of all the discoveries which men need to make, the most important, at the present moment, is that of the self-forming power treasured up in themselves. They little suspect its extent, as little as the savage apprehends the energy which the mind is created to exert on the material world.”

MenWorldNeedsMindLittlesImportantSelfMomentsEnergyMaterialsDiscoveryPresent MomentSuspectsSavagesMaterial WorldTreasured
Book:Self-Culture. An address introductory to the Franklin lectures, delivered at Boston. 1838
Create image

“Health is the working man's fortune, and he ought to watch over it more than the capitalist over his largest investments. Health lightens the efforts of body and mind. It enables a man to crowd much work into a narrow compass. Without it, little can be earned, and that little by slow, exhausting toil.”

MenMindLittlesBodyEffortCompassionWatchesOughtFortuneInvestmentCrowdsOver ItCapitalistToilCompassMind And BodyExhaustingWorking Man
Book:Lectures [on the elevation of the working classes] with selections from his writings
Create image

“A general loftiness of sentiment, independence of men, consciousness of good intentions, self-oblivion in great objects, clear views of futurity; thoughts of the blessed companionship of saints and angels, trust in God as the friend of truth and virtue,--these are the states of mind in which I should live.”

MenShouldMindSelfStatesViewsConsciousnessVirtueClearObjectsAngelIndependenceBlessedIntentionSaintSentimentsState Of MindTrust In GodCompanionshipOblivionGood IntentionsClear View
Book:Memoir of William Ellery Channing: With Extracts from His Correspondence and Manuscripts
Create image

“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with the superior minds, and these invaluable means of communication are in reach of all. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are true levellers. They give to all, who faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence of the best and greatest of our race.”

MenGivingMindMeanBookSoulUseAgePastSpiritualEnjoyVoiceRaceCommunicationSuperiorsGreat MenSpiritual LifeIntercourseHeirsInvaluableMeans Of Communication
Book:Self-Culture. An address introductory to the Franklin lectures, delivered at Boston. 1838
Create image

“Great minds are to make others great. Their superiority is to be used, not to break the multitude to intellectual vassalage, not to establish over them a spiritual tyranny, but to rouse them from lethargy, and to aid them to judge for themselves.”

MindSpiritualUsedBreakJudgingIntellectualAidsTyrannyMultitudesSuperiorityGreat MindsLethargyIntellectual Superiority
Book:Lectures on the elevation of the labouring portion of the community
Create image