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In the world of thought a man's rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement.
John Lancaster Spalding
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John Lancaster Spalding
Age: 76 †
Born: 1840
Born: June 2
Died: 1916
Died: August 25
Author
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Catholic Priest
Lebanon
Kentucky
Highest
Thought
Work
Men
World
Rank
Determined
Achievement
Average
More quotes by John Lancaster Spalding
We shrink from the contemplation of our dead bodies, forgetting that when dead they are no longer ours, and concern us as little as the hairs that have fallen from our heads.
John Lancaster Spalding
One may speak Latin and have but the mind of a peasant.
John Lancaster Spalding
If thy friends tire of thee, remember that it is human to tire of everything.
John Lancaster Spalding
A liberal education is that which aims to develop faculty without ulterior views of profession or other means of gaining a livelihood. It considers man an end in himself and not an instrument whereby something is to be wrought. Its ideal is human perfection.
John Lancaster Spalding
It is the expensiveness of our pleasures that makes the world poor and keeps us poor in ourselves. If we could but learn to find enjoyment in the things of the mind, the economic problems would solve themselves.
John Lancaster Spalding
To secure approval one must remain within the bounds of conventional mediocrity. Whatever lies beyond, whether it be greater insight and virtue, or greater stolidity and vice, is condemned. The noblest men, like the worst criminals, have been done to death.
John Lancaster Spalding
There are faults which show heart and win hearts, while the virtue in which there is no love, repels.
John Lancaster Spalding
A gentleman does not appear to know more or to be more than those with whom he is thrown into company.
John Lancaster Spalding
To think of education as a means of preserving institutions however excellent, is to have a superficial notion of its end and purpose, which is to mould and fashion men who are more than institutions, who create, outgrow, and re-create them.
John Lancaster Spalding
The study of law is valuable as a mental discipline, but the practice of pleading tends to make one petty, formal, and insincere. To be driven to look to legality rather than to equity blurs the view of truth and justice.
John Lancaster Spalding
As a brave man goes into fire or flood or pestilence to save a human life, so a generous mind follows after truth and love, and is not frightened from the pursuit by danger or toil or obloquy.
John Lancaster Spalding
If we attempt to sink the soul in matter, its light is quenched.
John Lancaster Spalding
If there were nothing else to trouble us, the fate of the flowers would make us sad.
John Lancaster Spalding
The important thing is how we know, not what or how much.
John Lancaster Spalding
The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is
John Lancaster Spalding
The world is chiefly a mental fact. From mind it receives the forms of time and space, the principle of casuality[sic], color, warmth, and beauty. Were there no mind, there would be no world.
John Lancaster Spalding
Though what we accept be true, it is a prejudice unless we ourselves have considered and understood why and how it is true.
John Lancaster Spalding
It is difficult to be sure of our friends, but it is possible to be certain of our loyalty to them.
John Lancaster Spalding
Altruism is a barbarism. Love is the word.
John Lancaster Spalding
Solitude is unbearable for those who can not bear themselves.
John Lancaster Spalding
