Perhaps in our presence, the most heroic deed on earth is done in some silent spirit, the loftiest purpose cherished, the most generous sacrifice made, and we do not suspect it. I believe this greatness to be most common among… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Real greatness has nothing to do with a man’s sphere. It does not lie in the magnitude of his outward agency, in the extent of the effects which he produces. The greatest men may do comparatively little. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
The reveries of youth, in which so much energy is wasted, are the yearnings of a Spirit made for what it has not found… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
A man may quarrel with himself alone; that is, by controverting his better instincts and knowledge when brought face to face with temptation. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Science and art may invent splendid modes of illuminating the apartments of the opulent; but these are all poor and worthless compared with the… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Men are never very wise and select in the exercise of a new power. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
All virtue lies in individual action, in inward energy, in self determination. There is no moral worth in being swept away by a crowd… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
We honor revelation too highly to make it the antagonist of reason, or to believe that it calls us to renounce our highest powers. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
To give a generous hope to a man of his own nature, is to enrich him immeasurably. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
No man receives the full culture of a man in whom the sensibility to the beautiful is not cherished; and there is no condition… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content itself with… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Ideas are the mightiest influence on earth. One great thought breathed into a man may regenerate him. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy,… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
