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When blessed with wealth, let them withdraw from the competition of vanity and be modest, retiring from ostentation, and not be the slaves of fashion.

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
Wealth
Withdraw
Fashion
Retiring
Slaves
Modest
Vanity
Slave
Competition
Blessed
Ostentation

More quotes by William Wilberforce

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Christianity has been successfully attacked and marginalized… because those who professed belief were unable to defend the faith from attack, even though its attackers’ arguments were deeply flawed.
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Wherever we direct our view, we discover the melancholy proofs of our depravity whether we look to ancient or modern times, to barbarous or civilized nations, to the conduct of the world around us, or to the monitor within the breast whether we read, or hear, or act, or think, or feel, the same humiliating lesson is forced upon us.
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We are too young to realize that certain things are impossible... So we will do them anyway.
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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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As much pains were taken to make me idle as were ever taken to make me studious.
William Wilberforce
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The first years in Parliament I did nothing - nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object.
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Can you tell a plain man the road to heaven? Certainly, turn at once to the right, and then go straight forward.
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If any country were indeed filled with men, each thus diligently discharging the duties of his own station without breaking in upon the rights of others, but on the contrary endeavoring, so far as he might be able, to forward their views and promote their happiness, all would be active and harmonious in the goodly frame of human society.
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The time of reckoning will at length arrive. And when finallly summoned to the bar of God, to give an account of our stewardship, what plea can we have to urge in our defense, if we remain willingly, and obstinately ignorant of the way which leads to life, with such transcendent means of knowing it, and such urgent motives to its pursuit?
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Men of authority and influence may promote good morals. Let them in their several stations encourage virtue. Let them favor and take part in any plans which may be formed for the advancement of morality.
William Wilberforce
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To live our lives and miss that great purpose we were designed to accomplish is truly a sin. It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to reach and so much misery we could alleviate
William Wilberforce
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It is the distinguishing glory of Christianity not to rest satisfied with superficial appearances, but to rectify the motives, and purify the heart.
William Wilberforce
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Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion.
William Wilberforce
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If you love someone who is ruining his or her life because of faulty thinking, and you don't do anything about it because you are afraid of what others might think, it would seem that rather than being loving, you are in fact being heartless.
William Wilberforce
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Our motto must continue to be perseverance. And ultimately I trust the Almighty will crown our efforts with success.
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If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.
William Wilberforce
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Can one serve God and one's nation in parliament?
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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.
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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Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer.
William Wilberforce