William Ellery Channing

A man might pass for insane who should see things as they are.

— William Ellery Channing

Love is the life of the soul. It is the harmony of the universe.

— William Ellery Channing

Men are never very wise and select in the exercise of a new power.

— William Ellery Channing

Do anything rather than give yourself to reverie.

— William Ellery Channing

I am a living member of the great family of all souls.

— William Ellery Channing

Every human being is a volume, worthy to be studied.

— William Ellery Channing

Home - the nursery of the Infinite.

— William Ellery Channing

Every man is a volume if you know how to read him.

— William Ellery Channing

All noble enthusiasms pass through a feverish stage, and grow wiser and more serene.

— William Ellery Channing

Our affections are our life. We live by them; they supply our warmth.

— William Ellery Channing

The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.

— William Ellery Channing

Labor is discovered to be the grand conqueror, enriching and building up nations more surely than the proudest battles.

— William Ellery Channing

It is far more important to me to preserve an unblemished conscience than to compass any object however great.

— William Ellery Channing

No one should part with their individuality and become that of another.

— William Ellery Channing

One of the tremendous evils of the world, is the monstrous accumulation of power in a few hands.

— William Ellery Channing

Influence is to be measured, not by the extent of surface it covers, but by its kind.

— William Ellery Channing

But the ground of a man's culture lies in his nature, not in his calling. His powers are to be unfolded on…

— William Ellery Channing

“It has often been observed, that those who have the most time at their disposal profit by it the least. A single…

— William Ellery Channing

The spirit of liberty is not merely, as multitudes imagine, a jealousy of our own particular rights, but a respect for the…

— William Ellery Channing

Precept is instruction written in the sand; the tide flows over it and the record is gone; example is graven on the…

— William Ellery Channing

Grandeur of character lies wholly in force of soul, that is, in the force of thought, moral principle, and love, and this…

— William Ellery Channing

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

Real greatness has nothing to do with a man’s sphere. It does not lie in the magnitude of his outward agency, in…

— William Ellery Channing

Reading is the royal road to intellectual eminence...Truly good books are more than mines to those who can understand them. They are…

— William Ellery Channing

The chief evil of war is more evil. War is the concentration of all human crimes. Here is its distinguishing, accursed brand.…

— William Ellery Channing

Soul Gathers Force It is possible, when the future is dim, when our depressed faculties can form no bright ideas of the…

— William Ellery Channing

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

“Poetry reveals to us the loveliness of nature, brings back the freshness of youthful feelings, reviews the relish of simple pleasures, keeps…

— William Ellery Channing

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

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable,…

— William Ellery Channing

Science and art may invent splendid modes of illuminating the apartments of the opulent; but these are all poor and worthless compared…

— William Ellery Channing

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

“Ask the majority of Christians what they consider the greatest evil from which Christ freed humanity and they will say: from Hell,…

— William Ellery Channing

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

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable,…

— William Ellery Channing

Error is discipline through which we advance.

— William Ellery Channing

Mistakes and errors are the discipline through which we advance.

— William Ellery Channing

Be true to your own highest convictions.

— William Ellery Channing

May your life preach more loudly than your lips.

— William Ellery Channing

Most joyful let the Poet be, it is through him that all men see.

— William Ellery Channing