Quote

Nothing requires so little mental effort as to narrate or follow a story. Hence everybody tells stories and the readers of stories outnumber all others.

John Lancaster Spalding

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John Lancaster Spalding
Age: 76 †
Born: 1840
Born: June 2
Died: 1916
Died: August 25
Author
Biographer
Catholic Priest
Lebanon
Kentucky
Others
Tells
Stories
Requires
Littles
Mental
Little
Follow
Nothing
Reader
Narrate
Effort
Outnumber
Everybody
Hence
Story
Readers

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The highest strength is acquired not in overcoming the world, but in overcoming one's self. Learn to be cruel to thyself, to withstand thy appetites, to bear thy sufferings, and thou shalt become free and able.
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If we attempt to sink the soul in matter, its light is quenched.
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As our power over others increases, we become less free for to retain it, we must make ourselves its servants.
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The important thing is how we know, not what or how much.
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What we love to do we find time to do.
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The ploughman knows how many acres he shall upturn from dawn to sunset: but the thinker knows not what a day may bring forth.
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Exercise of body and exercise of mind are supplementary, and both may be made recreative and educative.
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We are made ridiculous less by our defects than by the affectation of qualities which are not ours.
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Those subjects have the greatest educational value, which are richest in incentives to the noblest self-activity.
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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.
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The noblest are they who turning from the things the vulgar crave, seek the source of a blessed life in worlds to which the senses do not lead.
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Few know the joys that spring from a disinterested curiosity. It is like a cheerful spirit that leads us through worlds filled with what is true and fair, which we admire and love because it is true and fair.
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To cultivate the memory we should confide to it only what we understand and love: the rest is a useless burden for simply to know by rote is not to know at all.
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The writers who accomplish most are those who compel thought on the highest and most profoundly interesting subjects.
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What we think out for ourselves forms channels in which other thoughts will flow.
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If there are but few who interest thee, why shouldst thou be disappointed if but few find thee interesting?
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There are who mistake the spirit of pugnacity for the spirit of piety, and thus harbor a devil instead of an angel.
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If thy friends tire of thee, remember that it is human to tire of everything.
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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.
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It is difficult to be sure of our friends, but it is possible to be certain of our loyalty to them.
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