C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Jacobi
All governments are, to a certain extent, a treaty with the Devil.
As a countenance is made beautiful by the soul’s shining through it, so the world is beautiful by the shining through it of a God.
At bottom every religion is anti-Christian which makes the form, the thing, the letter, the substance. Such a materialistic religion, in order to be at all consistent, ought to maintain a material infallibility.
I have all reverence for principles which grow out of sentiments; but as to sentiments which grow out of principles, you shall scarcely build a house of cards thereon.
In one thing men of all ages are alike; they have believed obstinately in themselves.
Instinct harmonizes the interior of animals, as religion does the interior of men.
It is impossible to be a hero in anything unless one is first a hero in faith.
It is impossible to diminish poverty by the multiplication of effects, for, manage as we may, misery and suffering will always cleave to the border of superfluity.
It is never too late with us, so long as we are still aware of our faults and bear them impatiently,—of long as noble propensities, greedy of conquest, stir within us.
It is not truth, justice, liberty, which men seek; they seek only themselves. And O that they knew how to seek themselves aright!
Men will always act according to their passions. Therefore the best government is that which inspires the nobler passions and destroys the meaner.
Not because I raise myself above something but because I raise myself to something, do I approve myself.
Nothing is more ruinous for a man than when he is mighty enough in any part to right himself without right.
Nowhere would there be consolation, if religion were not.
Only those thoughts which the most profound earnestness has produced and perfected take a cheerful form.
The true and good resemble gold.
There are but two religions, Christianity and paganism, the worship of God and idolatry. A third between these is not possible. Where idolatry ends, there Christianity begins; and where idolatry begins, there Christianity ends.
To lay aside all prejudice is to lay aside all principles. He who is destitute of principles is governed, theoretically and practically, by whims.
We always live prospectively, never retrospectively, and there is no abiding moment.
We enjoy ourselves only in our work, our doing; and our best doing is our best enjoyment.