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The first years in Parliament I did nothing - nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object.

William Wilberforce

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William Wilberforce
Age: 73 †
Born: 1759
Born: August 24
Died: 1833
Died: July 29
Abolitionist
British Politician
Philanthropist
Politician
Distinction
Object
Objects
Purpose
Firsts
Nothing
First
Darling
Years
Parliament

More quotes by William Wilberforce

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In an age in which infidelity abounds, do we observe parents carefully instructing their children in the principles of faith which they profess? Or do they furnish their children with arguments for the defense of that faith? ...it is not surprising to see them abandon a position which they are unable to defend.
William Wilberforce
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There is no shortcut to holiness it must be the business of our whole lives.
William Wilberforce
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Accustom yourself to look first to the dreadful consequences of failure then fix your eye on the glorious prize which is before you and when your strength begins to fail, and your spirits are well nigh exhausted, let the animating view rekindle your resolution, and call forth in renewed vigour the fainting energies of your soul.
William Wilberforce
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Servile, and base, and mercenary, is the notion of Christian practice among the bulk of nominal Christians. They give no more than they dare not with-hold they abstain from nothing but what they must not practise.
William Wilberforce
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true Christians consider themselves not as satisfying some rigorous creditor, but as discharging a debt of gratitude
William Wilberforce
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Let true Christians then, with becoming earnestness, strive in all things to recommend their profession, and to put to silence the vain scoffs of ignorant objectors.
William Wilberforce
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Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul will grow lean.
William Wilberforce
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What should we suppose must naturally be the consequence of our carrying on a slave trade with Africa? With a country, vast in its extent, not utterly barbarous, but civilized in a very small degree? Does any one suppose a slave trade would help their civilization?
William Wilberforce
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If . . . a principle of true Religion [i.e., true Christianity] should . . . gain ground, there is no estimating the effects on public morals, and the consequent influence on our political welfare.
William Wilberforce
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Measure your progress by your experience of the love of God and its exercise before men.
William Wilberforce
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To the one, a little natural moderation and quietness of temper may be sufficient to conduct us: but to the other, we can only attain by much discipline and slow advances and when we think we have made great way, we shall often find reason to confess in the hour of trial, that we had greatly, far too greatly, over-rated our progress.
William Wilberforce
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This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours!
William Wilberforce
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I continually find it necessary to guard against that natural love of wealth and grandeur which prompts us always, when we come to apply our general doctrine to our own case, to claim an exception.
William Wilberforce
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We are too young to realize that certain things are impossible... So we will do them anyway.
William Wilberforce
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God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners (morality).
William Wilberforce
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God has so made the mind of man that a peculiar deliciousness resides in the fruits of personal industry.
William Wilberforce
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May God enable me to have a single eye and a simple heart, desiring to please God, to do good to my fellow creatures, and testify my gratitude to my adorable Redeemer.
William Wilberforce
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Sulky labor, and the labor of sorrow are little worth: if you could only shed tranquility over the conscience and infuse joy into the soul, you would do more to make the man a thorough worker than if you could lend him the force of Hercules, or the hundred arms of Briareus.
William Wilberforce
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The observance of one commandment, however clearly and forcibly enjoined, cannot make up for the neglect of another which is enjoined with equal clearness and equal force.
William Wilberforce
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You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.
William Wilberforce