"A man's character is the reality of himself; his reputation, the opinion others have formed about him; character resides in him, reputation in other people; that is the substance, this is the shadow."

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More quotes from: Henry Ward Beecher

• "A book is good company. It is full of conversation without loquacity. It comes to ..."
• "A Christian is nothing but a sinful man who has put himself to school for ..."
• "A church debt is the devil's salary. "
• "A man's true state of power and riches is to be in himself. "
• "A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted ..."
• "A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as ..."
• "All ambitions are lawful except those that climb upward on the miseries or credulities of ..."
• "Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on ..."
• "Beware of him who hates the laugh of a child. "
• "Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes ..."
• "Books are not men and yet they stay alive. "
• "Education is the knowledge of how to use the whole of oneself. Many men use ..."
• "Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into ..."
• "Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven. "
• "Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his ..."
• "Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of ..."
• "Every young man would do well to remember that all successful business stands on the ..."
• "Expedients are for the hour, but principles are for the ages. "
• "Faith is spiritualized imagination. "
• "Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into. "
• "Gambling with cards or dice or stocks is all one thing. It's getting money without ..."
• "God appoints our graces to be nurses to other men's weaknesses. "
• "God made man to go by motives, and he will not go without them, any ..."
• "Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the ..."
• "Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. "
• "Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength ..."
• "He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his ..."
• "He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he ..."
• "Heaven will be inherited by every man who has heaven in his soul. "
• "Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. "
• "I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will ..."
• "I never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings, and strictly honest ..."
• "I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love. "
• "I pray on the principle that wine knocks the cork out of a bottle. There ..."
• "If a man cannot be a Christian in the place where he is, he cannot ..."
• "In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, ..."
• "In this world, full often, our joys are only the tender shadows which our sorrows ..."

• "It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the ..."
• "It is not well for a man to pray cream and live skim milk. "
• "It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us ..."
• "It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. ..."
• "It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what ..."
• "It's easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much ..."
• "It's not the work which kills people, it's the worry. It's not the revolution that ..."
• "Laugh at your friends, and if your friends are sore; So much the better, you ..."
• "Laughter is not a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is the best ending ..."
• "Law represents the effort of man to organize society; governments, the efforts of selfishness to ..."
• "Mirth is the sweet wine of human life. It should be offered sparkling with zestful ..."
• "Never forget what a person says to you when they are angry. "
• "Next to ingratitude the most painful thing to bear is gratitude. "
• "No man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions. "
• "No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy today, mix good cheer ..."
• "Now comes the mystery. "
• "Of all escape mechanisms, death is the most efficient. "
• "Of all the music that reached farthest into heaven, it is the beating of a ..."
• "Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments. "
• "Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally ..."
• "Pushing any truth out very far, you are met by a counter-truth. "
• "Rain! whose soft architectural hands have power to cut stones, and chisel to shapes of ..."
• "Riches are not an end of life, but an instrument of life. "
• "Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one ..."
• "Success is full of promise till one gets it, and then it seems like a ..."
• "Suffering is part of the divine idea. "
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• "The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret of outward success. "
• "The advertisements in a newspaper are more full knowledge in respect to what is going ..."
• "The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. "
• "The babe at first feeds upon the mother's bosom, but it is always on her ..."
• "The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school ..."
• "The continuance and frequent fits of anger produce in the soul a propensity to be ..."
• "The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never ..."
• "The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and ..."
• "The dog is the god of frolic. "

• "The head learns new things, but the heart forever practices old experiences. "
• "The ignorant classes are the dangerous classes. "
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• "The most dangerous people are the ignorant. "
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• "There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousands truths, which come ..."
• "There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them - the senses, intelligent companions, ..."
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• "To array a man's will against his sickness is the supreme art of medicine. "
• "To become an able and successful man in any profession, three things are necessary, nature, ..."
• "To know that one has a secret is to know half the secret itself. "
• "We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things. "
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• "We steal if we touch tomorrow. It is God's. "
• "Well married a person has wings, poorly married shackles. "
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