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Selfishness is one of the principal fruits of the corruption of human nature and it is obvious that selfishness disposes us to over-rate our good qualities, and to overlook or extenuate our defects.

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
Nature
Principal
Human
Selfishness
Humans
Qualities
Good
Corruption
Fruit
Disposes
Obvious
Overlook
Rate
Fruits
Quality
Defects

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No matter how loud you shout, you will not drown out the voice of the people!
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Oh Lord, purify my soul from all its stains. Warm my heart with the love of thee, animate my sluggish nature and fix my inconstancy, and volatility, that I may not be weary in well doing.
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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).
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Measure your progress by your experience of the love of God and its exercise before men.
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O what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the waves of worldly business like the divine path of the Israelites through the sea! There is nothing in which I would advise you to be more strictly conscientious than in keeping the Sabbath day holy. I can truly declare that to me the Sabbath has been invaluable.
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God has so made the mind of man that a peculiar deliciousness resides in the fruits of personal industry.
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The distemper of which, as a community, we are sick, should be considered rather as a moral than a political malady.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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How can we judge fairly of the characters and merits of men, of the wisdom or folly of actions, unless we have . . . an accurate knowledge of all particulars, so that we may live as it were in the times, and among the persons, of whom we read, see with their eyes, and reason and decide on their premises?
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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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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.
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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
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We have different forms assigned to us in the school of life, different gifts imparted. All is not attractive that is good. Iron is useful, though it does not sparkle like the diamond. Gold has not the fragrance of a flower. So different persons have various modes of excellence, and we must have an eye to all.
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Let everyone regulate his conduct... by the golden rule of doing to others as in similar circumstances we would have them do to us, and the path of duty will be clear before him.
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Read the Bible, read the Bible! Let no religious book take its place. Through all my perplexities and distresses, I seldom read any other book, and I as rarely felt the want of any other.
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It must be conceded by those who admit the authority of Scripture (such only he is addressing) that from the decision of the word of God there can be no appeal.
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There are four things that we ought to do with the Word of God - admit it as the Word of God, commit it to our hearts and minds, submit to it, and transmit it to the world.
William Wilberforce
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The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint
William Wilberforce