“The fact that the evil ones, as long as they live, can be corrected from their errors does not prohibit that they may be justly executed, for the danger which threatens from their way of life is greater and more certain than the good which may be expected from their improvement.” WayMayLongDoeFactsLife IsCertainEvilGreaterDangerErrorsExpectedImprovementDeath Penalty Book:Summa Contra Gentiles: Book 3: Providence Source: Summa Contra Gentiles: Book 3: Providence
“A truly wise person will constantly move forward, striving for self-improvement, knowing that daily repentance is needed for progress. He will realize the good life is simply conforming to a standard of right and justice. The joys of happiness can only be realized by living lofty principles.” InspirationalPersonsSelfMovingLife IsJoyRealizingJusticePrinciplesKnowingWiseProgressNeededSelf ImprovementStandardsStriveImprovementMoving ForwardRepentanceGood LifeConformLoftyWise Person Author:Marvin J. Ashton
“A lost sheep is, for all practical purposes a dead sheep. It is the admission that we are dead in our sins---that we have no power of ourselves either to save ourselves or to convince anyone else that we are worth saving. It is the recognition that our whole life is out of our hands and that if we ever live again, our life will be entirely the gift of some gracious shepherd. God finds us the desert of death (not in the garden of improvement) and in the power of Jesus' resurrection, he puts us on his shoulders rejoicing and brings us home.” IfsWholeHomeHandsLife IsPurposeJesusLostSinOur LivesGardenWhole LifeImprovementPracticalsShouldersSavingRecognitionDesertConvinceRejoiceResurrectionSheepGraciousShepherdsAdmissionJesus Resurrection Author:Robert Farrar Capon
“I do not compare the past with the present without a prejudice for either, but, great as the improvement in country life is in many respects, it seems a pity the old cheap, wholesome dishes have gone to make way for tinned and preserved foods.” WayCountrySeemsPastLife IsGonePrejudiceImprovementPityCompareDishesCountry Life Author:Flora Thompson
“If we once admit that our life is here for the purpose of race-improvement, then we question any religion which does not improve the race, or the main force of which evaporates, as it were, directing our best efforts toward the sky.... Improvement in the human race is not accomplished by extracting any number of souls and placing them in heaven, or elsewhere. It must be established on earth, either through achievement in social service, or through better children.” IfsHumansChildrenDoeSoulEarthLife IsPurposeForceHeavenSocialNumbersEffortRaceOur LivesSkyAtheismAchievementPositive AtheismImprovementHuman RaceAccomplishedElsewhereBest EffortSocial Service Author:Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“The church itself has got to go outside of its own borders and carry the gospel to ev'ry creature, or it is no church of Christ; and any mutual improvement club which thinks that by reading its Shakspearo, or by acting its pretty tableaux, or by having. this or that little reading from Spenser and from Chaucer, it is going to lift itself up into any higher order of culture or life, is wholly mistaken, unless as an essential part of its duty, it goes out into the world, finds those that are falling down, and lifts them up to the majesty of freemen, who are sons of God.” ThinkingWorldLittlesLife IsOrderFallCultureReadingChristChurchActingSonDutyHigherCreaturesEssentialsDown AndClubsImprovementLiftsBordersMutualMistakenMajestyFalling DownFreemanChurch Of ChristChaucerSpenser Author:Edward Everett Hale