It is not the quantity but the quality of knowledge which determines the mind's dignity. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy the intercourse with superior minds...” — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Of all the discoveries which men need to make, the most important, at the present moment, is that of the self-forming power… — 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… — 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… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
I call that mind free which protects itself against the usurpations of society, and which does not cower to human opinion: Which… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Health is the working man's fortune, and he ought to watch over it more than the capitalist over his largest investments. Health… — 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… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
The best books for a man are not always those which the wise recommend, but often those which meet the peculiar wants,… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with the superior minds, and these invaluable means of communication are in reach… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Innocent amusements are such as excite moderately, and such as produce a cheerful frame of mind, not boisterous mirth; such as refresh,… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
The mind, in proportion as it is cut off from free communication with nature, with revelation, with God, with itself, loses its… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Every mind was made for growth, for knowledge, and its nature is sinned against when it is doomed to ignorance. — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
Great minds are to make others great. Their superiority is to be used, not to break the multitude to intellectual vassalage, not… — William Ellery Channing Copy Share Image
A general loftiness of sentiment, independence of men, consciousness of good intentions, self-oblivion in great objects, clear views of futurity; thoughts of… — 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
