Richard Whately

Habits are formed, not at one stroke, but gradually and insensibly; so that, unless vigilant care be employed, a great change may…

— Richard Whately

In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed; we see the most indistinctly the objects which are close…

— Richard Whately

Grace is in a great measure a natural gift; elegance implies cultivation; or something of more artificial character. A rustic, uneducated girl…

— Richard Whately

Man, considered not merely as an organized being, but as a rational agent and a member of society, is perhaps the most…

— Richard Whately

As the telescope is not a substitute for, but an aid to, our sight, so revelation is not designed to supersede the…

— Richard Whately

It is one thing to wish to have truth on our side, and another to wish sincerely to be on the side…

— Richard Whately

One way in which fools succeed where wise men fail is that through ignorance of the danger they sometimes go coolly about…

— Richard Whately

Neither human applause nor human censure is to be taken as the best of truth; but either should set us upon testing…

— Richard Whately

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.

— Richard Whately

When a man says he wants to work, what he means is that he wants wages.

— Richard Whately

Those who relish the study of character may profit by the reading of good works of fiction, the product of well-established authors.

— Richard Whately

It is an awful, an appalling thought, that we may be, this moment and every moment, in the presence of malignant spirits.

— Richard Whately

To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.

— Richard Whately

As one may bring himself to believe almost anything he is inclined to believe, it makes all the difference whether we begin…

— Richard Whately

Some persons resemble certain trees, such as the nut, which flowers in February and ripens its fruit in September; or the juniper…

— Richard Whately

Christianity, contrasted with the Jewish system of emblems, is truth in the sense of reality, as substance is opposed to shadows, and,…

— Richard Whately

Misgive that you may not mistake.

— Richard Whately

The love of admiration leads to fraud, much more than the love of commendation; but, on the other hand, the latter is…

— Richard Whately

Falsehood is difficult to be maintained. When the materials of a building are solid blocks of stone, very rude architecture will suffice;…

— Richard Whately

As a science, logic institutes an analysis of the process of the mind in reasoning, and investigating the principles on which argumentation…

— Richard Whately

The happiest lot for a man, as far as birth is concerned, is that it should be such as to give him…

— Richard Whately

All men wish to have truth on their side; but few to be on the side of truth.

— Richard Whately

Men are like sheep, of which a flock is more easily driven than a single one.

— Richard Whately

It is folly to shiver over last year's snow.

— Richard Whately

The censure of frequent and long parentheses has led writers into the preposterous expedient of leaving out the marks by which they…

— Richard Whately