John Lancaster Spalding (1840 – 1916)
First bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria from 1877 to 1908, a notable scholarly writer of the time and, a co-founder of The Catholic University of America.
The pessimist writes over the gates of life what the poet has inscribed on the portals of hell—”Abandon hope, ye who enter here.”
They who think they know all, learn nothing.
It is not difficult to grasp and express thoughts that float on the stream of current opinion: but to think and rightly utter what is permanently true and interesting, what shall appeal to the best minds a thousand years hence, as it appeals to them to-day,—this is the work of genius.
The strong man is he who knows how and is able to become and be himself; the magnanimous man is he who, being strong, knows how and is able to issue forth from himself, as from a fortress, to guide, protect, encourage, and save others.
They who see through the eyes of others are controlled by the will of others.
Nothing requires so little mental effort as to narrate or follow a story. Hence everybody tells stories and the readers of stories outnumber all others.
Thy money, thy office, thy reputation are nothing; put away these phantom clothings, and stand like an athlete stripped for the battle.
One may speak Latin and have but the mind of a peasant.
The test of the worth of a school is not the amount of knowledge it imparts, but the self-activity it calls forth.
However firmly thou holdest to thy opinions, if truth appears on the opposite side, throw down thy arms at once.
Folly will run its course and it is the part of wisdom not to take it too seriously.
We are made ridiculous less by our defects than by the affectation of qualities which are not ours.
What is greatly desired, but long deferred, gives little pleasure, when at length it is ours, for we have lived with it in imagination until we have grown weary of it, having ourselves, in the meanwhile, become other.
Let not what thou canst not prevent, though it be the ruin of thy home or country, draw thee from thy proper work.
It is the tendency of the study of science to make us patient, humble and attentive to the smallest things. Is not this part of religion?
Moral education is the development of individuality, and individuality can not be developed by formulas and mechanical processes: it is the work of the master who brings to his task a genuine and loving interest in the individual.
We do not find it hard to bear with ourselves, though we are full of faults. Why then may we not learn to be tolerant of others?
If thou canst not hold the golden mean, say and do too little rather than too much.
The zest of life lies in right doing, not in the garnered harvest.
As our power over others increases, we become less free; for to retain it, we must make ourselves its servants.