We smile at the ignorance of the savage who cuts down the tree in order to reach its fruit; but the same blunder is made by every person who is over eager and impatient in the pursuit of pleasure. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Another powerful principle of our nature, which is the spring of war, is the passion for superiority, for triumph, for power. The human mind is aspiring, impatient of inferiority, and eager for preeminence and control. — 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
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
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
Men are never very wise and select in the exercise of a new power. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share
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
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
To give a generous hope to a man of his own nature, is to enrich him immeasurably. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share
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
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
Ideas are the mightiest influence on earth. One great thought breathed into a man may regenerate him. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share
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
“god be thanked for books. they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share
Perhaps in our presence, the most heroic deed on earth is done in some silent spirit, the loftiest purpose cherished, the most generous sacrifice… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share
Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other can exactly be, and do what no… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share
