--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Even ministers of good things are like…" description: "\"Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves.\" — Richard Hooker" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abb/richard-hooker-22531_destruction_even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-t_99178.png" --- # Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to… ![“Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves.” quote by Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abb/richard-hooker-22531_destruction_even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-t_99178.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abb/richard-hooker-22531_destruction_even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-t_99178.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abb/richard-hooker-22531_destruction_even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-t_99178.png) > “Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves.” [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Leaders who try to help others may end up harming themselves by overextending or neglecting self‑care. **In simple terms:** Helping others can be self‑destructive if you ignore your own needs. Key Takeaway Balance service with self‑preservation. Themes leadership self‑care sacrifice burnout Mood reflective cautious Type philosophical moral When to use this quote - volunteering without rest - counselor over‑committing - politician neglecting health - parent caring for family Key Concepts ethical responsibility personal limits Practical Applications - set clear boundaries - schedule regular self‑maintenance Questions to Reflect On - How can you protect yourself while serving others? - What signs indicate you’re becoming a “torch” that burns out? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Destruction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destruction/) [Good things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-things/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Waste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waste/) ## Related quotes > [“Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/heaven-doth-with-us-as-we-with-torches-do-not-light-them-for/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“All believers need to become teachers, shepherds, ministers, and good-news-bearers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hon/all-believers-need-to-become-teachers-shepherds-ministers-and-good/) [Henry Hon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hon/) > [The pines were roaring on the height, The wind was moaning in the night. The fire was red, it flaming spread; The trees like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jrr-tolkien/the-pines-were-roaring-on-the-height-the-wind-was-moaning-in-the/) [JRR Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jrr-tolkien/) > [“From afar they raise their voices like torches, and they cry out, as from some lofty and conspicuous watchtower, admonishing us where to walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eusebius-of-caesarea/from-afar-they-raise-their-voices-like-torches-and-they-cry-out-as/) [Eusebius of Caesarea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eusebius-of-caesarea/) > [If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/if-the-preaching-of-our-ministers-and-the-practice-of-our/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [We complain today that ministers do not know how to preach; but is it not equally true that our congregations do not know how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/we-complain-today-that-ministers-do-not-know-how-to-preach-but-is-it/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [There needs to be an order of office, but in every single office that is presented in the Scriptures there is the personal emphasis…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-schaeffer/there-needs-to-be-an-order-of-office-but-in-every-single-office-that/) [Francis Schaeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-schaeffer/) > [Ministers often preach about the Gospel instead of preaching the Gospel. They often preach about sinners instead of preaching to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-grandison-finney/ministers-often-preach-about-the-gospel-instead-of-preaching-the/) [Charles Grandison Finney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-grandison-finney/) > [From early on I valued the gift of memory above all others. I understood that as we grow older we carry a whole nation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hamilton/from-early-on-i-valued-the-gift-of-memory-above-all-others-i/) [Jane Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hamilton/) > [My pen.’ Funny, I wrote that without noticing. ‘The torch’, ‘the paper’, but ‘my pen’. That shows what writing means to me, I guess.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-marsden/my-pen-funny-i-wrote-that-without-noticing-the-torch-the-paper-but-my/) [John Marsden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-marsden/) > [ “\[The main road was\] now teeming with people carrying torches, pitchforks, and rakes, and one very confused man who apparently had mistaken the mob… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cuthbert-soup/the-main-road-was-now-teeming-with-people-carrying-torches-pitchforks/) [Cuthbert Soup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cuthbert-soup/) > [Prayer is the way to destroy all fear. It is the way to banish sorrow, the way to light a torch of hope. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daisaku-ikeda/prayer-is-the-way-to-destroy-all-fear-it-is-the-way-to-banish-sorrow/) [Daisaku Ikeda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daisaku-ikeda/) > [Once Europe existed in a Dark Age and Islam carried the torch of learning. Now we Muslims live in a Dark age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahmud-tarzi/once-europe-existed-in-a-dark-age-and-islam-carried-the-torch-of/) Mahmud Tarzi > [Reach me a gentian, give me a torch! Let me guide myself with the blue, forked torch of a flower down the darker and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/reach-me-a-gentian-give-me-a-torch-let-me-guide-myself-with-the-blue/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) ## More by Richard Hooker > [Man doth seek a triple perfection: first a sensual, consisting in those things which very life itself requireth either as necessary supplements, or as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/man-doth-seek-a-triple-perfection-first-a-sensual-consisting-in-those/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [Angels are unsatisfiable in their longing to do by all means all manner of good unto all the creatures, ...especially the children of men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/angels-are-unsatisfiable-in-their-longing-to-do-by-all-means-all/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [Of two Evils we take the less.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/of-two-evils-we-take-the-less/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [The reason why the simpler sort are moved with authority, is the consciousness of their own ignorance; whereby it cometh to pass that having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/the-reason-why-the-simpler-sort-are-moved-with-authority-is-the/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [Time is one of the essential ingredients. Each day brings 86,400 seconds. Whatever isn't used is gone forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/time-is-one-of-the-essential-ingredients-each-day-brings-86-400/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [Of Law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/of-law-there-can-be-no-less-acknowledged-than-that-her-seat-is-the/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [So that every man lawfully ordained must bring a bow which hath two strings, a title of present right and another to provide for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/so-that-every-man-lawfully-ordained-must-bring-a-bow-which-hath-two/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [“When Radar O'Reilly, just out of high school, left Ottumwa, Iowa, and enlisted in the United States Army it was with the express purpose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/when-radar-o-reilly-just-out-of-high-school-left-ottumwa-iowa-and/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [“You know who we been living with for the past week? We been living with the only man in history who ever took a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/you-know-who-we-been-living-with-for-the-past-week-we-been-living/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [For men to be tied and led by authority, as it were with a kind of captivity of judgment, and though there be reason…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/for-men-to-be-tied-and-led-by-authority-as-it-were-with-a-kind-of/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [“Look!" Hawkeye said. Duke looked where Hawkeye was pointing. In one corner, kneeling on the dirt floor with his elbows on his cot, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/look-hawkeye-said-duke-looked-where-hawkeye-was-pointing-in-one/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [See we not plainly that obedience of creatures unto the law of nature is the stay of the whole world?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/see-we-not-plainly-that-obedience-of-creatures-unto-the-law-of-nature/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [“He might make it, even if all I really did was hit him in the head with an axe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/he-might-make-it-even-if-all-i-really-did-was-hit-him-in-the-head/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [From here it sounds great to say we'll all get together soon, but all I know is this: you can call me fifty days…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/from-here-it-sounds-great-to-say-we-ll-all-get-together-soon-but-all/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) > [Think of your child, then, not as dead, but as living; not as a flower that has withered, but as one that is transplanted,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/think-of-your-child-then-not-as-dead-but-as-living-not-as-a-flower/) [Richard Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) [Explore all 27 Richard Hooker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/) ## More Destruction quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-are-no-white-lies-there-is-only-the-blackest-of-destruction-and/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [It goes to show you how we in the press so often miss the big stories that are right under our noses. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/it-goes-to-show-you-how-we-in-the-press-so-often-miss-the-big-stories/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-arago/a-time-will-come-when-the-science-of-destruction-shall-bend-before/) [Francois Arago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-arago/) > [Perhaps the greatest and least visible form of impoverishment caused by the Corporate State is the destruction of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/perhaps-the-greatest-and-least-visible-form-of-impoverishment-caused/) [Charles A. Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/somewhere-somebody-must-have-some-sense-men-must-see-that-force/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Death is but an aspect of life, and the destruction of one material form is but a prelude to building up of another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/death-is-but-an-aspect-of-life-and-the-destruction-of-one-material/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Hundreds of millions of human beings on our planet increasingly suffer from unemployment, poverty, hunger, and the destruction of their families.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-kung/hundreds-of-millions-of-human-beings-on-our-planet-increasingly/) [Hans Kung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-kung/) > [Away with you, water, destruction of wine!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catullus/away-with-you-water-destruction-of-wine/) [Catullus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catullus/) > [Some voluntary castaways there will always be, whom no fostering kindness and no parental care can preserve from self-destruction; but if any are lost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-southey/some-voluntary-castaways-there-will-always-be-whom-no-fostering/) [Robert Southey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-southey/) > [“You are a lawmaker in your own right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/you-are-a-lawmaker-in-your-own-right/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [ No visiting angel, or explorer from another planet, could have guessed that this bland orb \[Earth\] teemed with vermin, with world-mastering, self-torturing, incipiently angelic… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olaf-stapledon/no-visiting-angel-or-explorer-from-another-planet-could-have-guessed/) [Olaf Stapledon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olaf-stapledon/) > [As far as I know, the question of whether and how it could be strategically or morally justified was never the subject of open…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-far-as-i-know-the-question-of-whether-and-how-it-could-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Is there some lesson on how to be friends? I think what it means is that central to living a life that is good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rakoff/is-there-some-lesson-on-how-to-be-friends-i-think-what-it-means-is/) [David Rakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rakoff/) > [“We're on the eve of destruction. Men have lost all sense of honor. Power has become their faith instead of faith being their power.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atiq-rahimi/we-re-on-the-eve-of-destruction-men-have-lost-all-sense-of-honor/) Atiq Rahimi [Browse all 3,161 Destruction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destruction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Hooker" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-torches-a-light-to-others/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Destruction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-torches-a-light-to-others/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abb/richard-hooker-22531_destruction_even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-t_99178.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abb/richard-hooker-22531_destruction_even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-t_99178.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abb/richard-hooker-22531_destruction_even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-t_99178.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves.” — Richard Hooker", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Richard Hooker", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hooker/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Even ministers of good things are...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-torches-a-light-to-others/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hooker/even-ministers-of-good-things-are-like-torches-a-light-to-others/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```