The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
If a man cannot be a Christian in the place where he is, he cannot be a Christian anywhere.
Interpretation
What this quote means
One's faith should be consistent regardless of their surroundings or circumstances.
This quote by Henry Ward Beecher emphasizes the importance of authenticity in one’s beliefs and values. It suggests that if a person cannot practice their faith or uphold their principles in their current environment, they likely would not be able to uphold them in any other context, highlighting the idea that true conviction transcends situational challenges.
Themes
FaithAuthenticityPrinciplesBeliefsConsistency
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon discussing faith and integrity, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of living out one's beliefs.
More from Henry Ward Beecher
All quotes →A man who cannot get angry is like a stream that cannot overflow, that is always turbid. Sometimes indignation is as good as a thunderstorm in summer, clearing and cooling the air.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
No one can deal with the hearts of men unless he has the sympathy which is given by love.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
No man can tell if he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousands truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, and then fly away.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
Similar quotes
I was rather literary in college—one year I wrote a series of very solemn and obvious editorials for the 'Yale News.'—and now I was going to bring back all such things into my life and become again that most limited of all specialists, the 'well-rounded man.' This isn’t just an epigram—life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low. We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone (We) have imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost.
Aiden Wilson TozerRead
It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.
Henry A. KissingerRead
I think that if you were to probe a lot of people's religious opinions, they would not be as religious as the numbers would suggest.
Steven PinkerRead
There are plenty who regard a wall behind which something is happening as a very curious thing.
Victor HugoRead
Day to day and doing the work and getting to that honest point - that, for me, is always about - and always will be as long as I do this - refining and refining and refining and refining the truth... constantly being as truthful and honest and raw and real as you can be.
Michael KeatonRead