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All virtue lies in individual action, in inward energy, in self determination. There is no moral worth in being swept away by a crowd even toward the best objective.

William Ellery Channing

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William Ellery Channing
Age: 62 †
Born: 1780
Born: April 7
Died: 1842
Died: October 2
Pastor
Preacher
Theologian
Newport
Rhode Island
Reverend William Ellery Channing
Individual
Crowds
Energy
Determination
Action
Toward
Swept
Away
Lies
Inward
Best
Worth
Objective
Self
Virtue
Individuality
Even
Moral
Crowd
Lying
Objectives

More quotes by William Ellery Channing

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There is but a very minute portion of the creation which we can turn into food and clothes, or gratification for the body but the whole creation may be used to minister to the sense of beauty.
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To extinguish the free will is to strike the conscience with death, for both have but one and the same life.
William Ellery Channing
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We must not waste life in devising means. It is better to plan less and do more.
William Ellery Channing
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Of all the discoveries which men need to make, the most important, at the present moment, is that of the self-forming power treasured up in themselves. They little suspect its extent, as little as the savage apprehends the energy which the mind is created to exert on the material world.
William Ellery Channing
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Another powerful principle of our nature, which is the spring of war, is the passion for superiority, for triumph, for power. The human mind is aspiring, impatient of inferiority, and eager for preeminence and control.
William Ellery Channing
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Undoubtedly a man is to labor to better his condition, but first to better himself.
William Ellery Channing
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Precept is instruction written in the sand the tide flows over it and the record is gone example is graven on the rock, and the lesson is not soon lost.
William Ellery Channing
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The home is the chief school of human virtues.
William Ellery Channing
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What a sublime doctrine it is, that goodness cherished now is eternal life already entered on!
William Ellery Channing
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A general loftiness of sentiment, independence of men, consciousness of good intentions, self-oblivion in great objects, clear views of futurity thoughts of the blessed companionship of saints and angels, trust in God as the friend of truth and virtue,--these are the states of mind in which I should live.
William Ellery Channing
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It is far more important to me to preserve an unblemished conscience than to compass any object however great.
William Ellery Channing
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A clear thought, a pure affection, a resolute act of a virtuous will, have a dignity of quite another kind, and far higher than accumulations of brick and granite and plaster and stucco, however cunningly put together.
William Ellery Channing
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Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.
William Ellery Channing
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I laugh, for hope hath a happy place with me If my boat sinks, 'tis to another sea.
William Ellery Channing
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Be true to your own highest convictions.
William Ellery Channing
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The miracles of Christ were studiously performed in the most unostentatious way. He seemed anxious to veil His majesty under the love with which they were wrought.
William Ellery Channing
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No man receives the full culture of a man in whom the sensibility to the beautiful is not cherished and there is no condition of life from which it should be excluded. Of all luxuries this is the cheapest, and the most at hand, and most important to those conditions where coarse labor tends to give grossness to the mind.
William Ellery Channing
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The spirit of liberty is not merely, as multitudes imagine, a jealousy of our own particular rights, but a respect for the rights of others, and an unwillingness that any man, whether high or low, should be wronged and trampled under foot.
William Ellery Channing
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Every man is a volume if you know how to read him.
William Ellery Channing
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The best books for a man are not always those which the wise recommend, but often those which meet the peculiar wants, the natural thirst of his mind, and therefore awaken interest and rivet thought.
William Ellery Channing