Hannah More Quotes

So weak is man, so ignorant and blind, that did not God sometimes withhold in mercy what we ask, we should be ruined at our own request. [Prayer]

The constant habit of perusing devout books is so indispensable, that it has been termed the oil of the lamp of prayer. Too much reading, however, and too little meditation, may produce the effect of a lamp inverted; which is extinguished by the very excess of that aliment, whose property is to feed it. [Books]

The education of the present race of females is not very favorable to domestic happiness. - For my own part, I call education, not that which smothers a woman with accomplishments, but that which tends to consolidate a firm and regular system of character. - That which tends to form a friend, a companion, and a wife. [Education]

The habitual indulgence in such reading, is a silent, ruining mischief.

The keen spirit seizes the prompt occasion; makes the thought start into instant action, and at once plans and performs, resolves, and executes!

The martyrs to vice far exceed the martyrs to virtue, both in endurance and in number. So blinded are we to our passions, that we suffer more to insure perdition than salvation. Religion does not forbid the rational enjoyments of life as sternfy as avarice forbids them. She does not require such sacrifices of ease as ambition; or such renunciation of quiet as pride. She does not murder sleep like dissipation; or health like intemperance; or scatter wealth like extravagance or gambling. She does not embitter life like discord; or shorten it like duelling; or harrow it like revenge. She does not impose more vigilance than suspicion; mere anxiety than selfishness; or half as many mortifications as vanity!
[Vice]

The secret heart is devotion's temple; there the saint lights the flame of purest sacrifice, which burns unseen but not unaccepted.

The soul on earth is an immortal guest, compelled to starve at an unreal feast; a pilgrim panting for the rest to come; an exile, anxious for his native home. [Soul]

The world does not require so much to be informed as reminded.

The wretch who digs the mine for bread, or ploughs, that others may be fed, feels less fatigued than that decreed to him who cannot think or read.

There are three requisites to the proper enjoyment of earthly blessings: a thankful reflection, on the goodness of the giver; a deep sense of our own unworthiness; and a recollection of the uncertainty of our long possessing them - The first will make us grateful; the second, humble; and the third, moderate.

There is one single fact which we may oppose to all the wit and argument of infidelity, namely, that no man ever repented of being a Christian on his death-bed. [Infidelity]

To be good and disagreeable is high treason against the royalty of virtue. [Manners]

Trifles make the sum of human things, and half our misery from our foibles springs. [Trifles]

We are apt to mistake our vocation in looking out of the way for occasions to exercise great and rare virtues, and stepping over the ordinary ones which lie directly in the road before us. When we read we fancy we could be martyrs; when we come to act we find we cannot bear a provoking word. [Duty]

We have employments assigned to us for every circumstance in life. When we are alone, we have our thoughts to watch; in the family, our tempers; and in company, our tongues.

When we read, we fancy we could be martyrs; when we come to act, we cannot bear a provoking word.

When you are disposed to be vain of your mental acquirements, look up to those who are more accomplished than yourself, that you may be fired with emulation; but when you feel dissatisfied with your circumstances, look down on those beneath you, that you may learn contentment. [Compensation]

Yes, thou art ever present, power divine; not circumscribed by time, nor fixed by space, confined to altars, nor to temples bound. - In wealth, in want, in freedom, or in chains, in dungeons or on thrones, the faithful find thee.