Hosea Ballou was a Universalist clergyman and theologian in the United States.
Best Hosea Ballou Quotes
A chaste and lucid style is indicative of the same personal traits in the author. ~ Hosea Ballou.
A true religious instinct never deprived man of one single joy; mournful faces and a somber aspect are the conventional affectations of the weak-minded. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Pretension almost always overdoes the original, and hence exposes itself. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Tears of joy, like summer raindrops, are pierced by sunbeams. ~ Hosea Ballou.
No one has a greater asset for his business than a man’s pride in his work. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice. ~ Hosea Ballou.
A wise Providence consoles our present afflictions by joys borrowed from the future. ~ Hosea Ballou.
The cloudy weather melts at length into beauty, and the brightest smiles of the heart are born of its tears. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Attempt to teach the young but little at a time; this will be easier to impart, easier to receive, and surer to be retained. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Most people who commit a sin count on some personal benefit to be derived therefrom, but profanity has not even this excuse. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Also read: Henry Alford quotes and Kay Arthur quotes.
Top Hosea Ballou Quotes
Be circumspect in your dealings, and let the seed you plant be the offspring of prudence and care; thus fruit follows the fair blossom, as honor follows a good life. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Embark in no enterprise which you cannot submit to the test of prayer. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Obedience and resignation are our personal offerings upon the altar of duty. ~ Hosea Ballou.
A careless and blasphemous use of the name of the Divine Being is not only sinful, but it is also prima facie evidence of vulgar associations. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is the goodly outside that sin puts on which tempteth to destruction. It has been said that sin is like the bee, with honey in its mouth, but a sting in its tail. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Death comes to us, under many conditions, with all the welcome serenity of sleep. ~ Hosea Ballou.
A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page. ~ Hosea Ballou.
The oppression of any people for opinion’s sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important. ~ Hosea Ballou.
We must not only read the Scriptures, but we must make their rules of life our own. ~ Hosea Ballou.
You cannot judge by outward appearances; the soul is only transparent to its Maker. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Folly is like the growth of weeds, always luxurious and spontaneous; wisdom, like flowers, requires cultivation. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Suspicion is far more apt to be wrong than right; oftener unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Servility is disgusting to a truly noble character, and engenders only contempt. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Brevity and conciseness are the parents of conviction. The leaden bullet is more fatal than when multiplied into shot. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Faith, in order to be genuine and of any real value, must be the offspring of that divine love which Jesus manifested when He prayed for His enemies on the cross. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Famous Hosea Ballou Quotes
How can there be pride in a contrite heart? Humility is the earliest fruit of religion. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Be more careful of your conscience than of your estate. The latter can be bought and sold; the former never. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Remember, when incited to slander, that it is only he among you who is without sin that may cast the first stone. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood, and nearly as blameable. ~ Hosea Ballou.
They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Liberality should be tempered with judgment, not with profuseness. ~ Hosea Ballou.
There is no doubt that religious fanatics have done more to prejudice the cause they affect to advocate than have its opponents. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Popular Hosea Ballou Quotes
If gratitude is due from children to their earthly parents, how much more is the gratitude of the great family of man due to our Father in heaven! ~ Hosea Ballou.
There is no immunity from the consequences of sin; punishment is swift and sure to one and all. ~ Hosea Ballou.
I will be a slave to no habit; therefore farewell tobacco. ~ Hosea Ballou.
There is no better rule to try a doctrine by than the question, Is it merciful, or is it unmerciful? If its character is that of mercy, it has the image of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. ~ Hosea Ballou.
A mother’s love, in a degree, sanctifies the most worthless offspring. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness. ~ Hosea Ballou.
The eye is the inlet to the soul, and it is well to beware of him whose visual organs avoid your honest regard. ~ Hosea Ballou.
How quickly a truly benevolent act is repaid by the consciousness of having done it! ~ Hosea Ballou.
None but the guilty know the withering pains of repentance. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Great Hosea Ballou Quotes
With regard to manner, be careful to speak in a soft, tender, kind and loving way. Even when you have occasion to rebuke, be careful to do it with manifest kindness. The effect will be incalculably better. ~ Hosea Ballou.
To talk of luck and chance only shows how little we really know of the laws which govern cause and effect. ~ Hosea Ballou.
If our Creator has so bountifully provided for our existence here, which is but momentary, and for our temporal wants, which will soon be forgotten, how much more must He have done for our enjoyment in the everlasting world? ~ Hosea Ballou.
Education commences at the mother’s knee, and every word spoken within the hearsay of little children tends towards the formation of character. ~ Hosea Ballou.
The act of divine worship is the inestimable privilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is in sickness that we most feel the need of that sympathy which shows how much we are dependent one upon another for our comfort, and even necessities. Thus disease, opening our eyes to the realities of life, is an indirect blessing. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Lenity has almost always wisdom and justice on its side. ~ Hosea Ballou.
The experience of others adds to our knowledge, but not to our wisdom; that is dearer-bought. ~ Hosea Ballou.
No reproof or denunciation is so potent as the silent influence of a good example. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Honest and courageous people have very little to say about either their courage or their honesty. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Thought-Provoking Hosea Ballou Quotes
Theory, from whatever source, is not perfect until it is reduced to practice. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Energy, even like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains. ~ Hosea Ballou.
There is no possible excuse for a guarded lie. Enthusiastic and impulsive people will sometimes falsify thoughtlessly, but equivocation is malice prepense. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Hatred is self-punishment. Hatred it the coward’s revenge for being intimidated. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Theories are very thin and unsubstantial: experience only is tangible. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Prosperity is very liable to bring pride among the other goods with which it endows an individual; it is then that prosperity costs too dear. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is what we give up, not what we lay up, that adds to our lasting store. ~ Hosea Ballou.
The severest punishment suffered by a sensitive mind, for injury inflicted upon another, is the consciousness of having done it. ~ Hosea Ballou.
No outward change need trouble him who is inwardly serene. ~ Hosea Ballou.
True charity is spontaneous and finds its own occasion; it is never the offspring of importunity, nor of emulation. ~ Hosea Ballou.
A religion which requires persecution to sustain it is of the devil’s propagation. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Between the humble and contrite heart and the majesty of heaven there are no barriers; the only password is prayer. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant, remains fruitless. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is a glorious occupation, vivifying and self-sustaining in its nature, to struggle with ignorance, and discover to the inquiring minds of the masses the clear cerulean blue of heavenly truth. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Some clergymen make a motto, instead of a theme, of their texts. ~ Hosea Ballou.
True sympathy is putting ourselves in another’s place; and we are moved in proportion to the reality of our imagination. ~ Hosea Ballou.
As “unkindness has no remedy at law,” let its avoidance be with you a point of honor. ~ Hosea Ballou.
I have somewhere read that conscience not only sits as witness and judge within our bosoms, but also forms the prison of punishment. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Profound Hosea Ballou Quotes
Not the least misfortune in a prominent falsehood is the fact that tradition is apt to repeat it for truth. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul; and the heart of man knoweth none more fragrant. ~ Hosea Ballou.
There is no such thing as “best” in the world of individuals. ~ Hosea Ballou.
The heavens and the earth, the woods and the wayside, teem with instruction and knowledge to the curious and thoughtful. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Obedience, as it regards the social relations, the rules of society, and the laws of nature and nature’s God, should commence at the cradle and end only at the tomb. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Reproof, especially as it relates to children, administered in all gentleness, will render the culprit not afraid, but ashamed to repeat the offence. ~ Hosea Ballou.
All our possessions are as nothing compared to health, strength, and a clear conscience. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is the nature of intellect to strive to improve in intellectual power. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is better to be the builder of our own name than to be indebted by descent for the proudest gifts known to the books of heraldry. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Ministers who threaten death and destruction employ weapons of weakness. Argument and kindness are alone effectual, flavored by the principles of Divine love. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is vain to trust in wrong; it is like erecting a building upon a frail foundation, and which will directly be sure to topple over. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Prosperity seems to be scarcely safe, unless it be mixed with a little adversity. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Too many people embrace religion from the same motives that they take a companion in wedlock, not from true love of the person, but because of a large dowry. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Wise Hosea Ballou Quotes
How white are the fair robes of charity, as she walketh amid the lowly habitations of the poor! ~ Hosea Ballou.
Thy attributes, how endearing! how parental! all loving, all forgiving. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Envy may justly be called “the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity;” it is the most acid fruit that grows on the stock of sin, a fluid so subtle that nothing but the fire of divine love can purge it from the soul. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Moderation is the key to lasting enjoyment. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Preaching is of much avail, but practice is far more effective. A godly life is the strongest argument that you can offer to the skeptic. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Unless we find repose within ourselves, it is vain to seek it elsewhere. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Humanity, in the aggregate, is progressing, and philanthropy looks forward hopefully. ~ Hosea Ballou.
If we are at peace with God and our own conscience, what enemy among men need we fear? ~ Hosea Ballou.
There is one inevitable criterion of judgment touching religious faith in doctrinal matters. Can you reduce it to practice? If not, have none of it. ~ Hosea Ballou.
That alone can be called true refinement which elevates the soul of man, purifying the manners by improving the intellect. ~ Hosea Ballou.
Has not God borne with you these many years? Be ye tolerant to others. ~ Hosea Ballou.
It is my humble prayer that I may be of some use in my day and generation. ~ Hosea Ballou.
That kind of discipline whose pungent severity is in the manifestations of paternal love, compassion, and tenderness is the most sure of its object. ~ Hosea Ballou.
So these were the 103 top Hosea Ballou quotes and sayings.