Henry Ward Beecher, born on June 24, 1813, was a prominent American clergyman, social reformer, and speaker. As one of the most influential figures of the 19th century, Beecher’s powerful oratory skills and progressive views made him a renowned advocate for causes such as abolitionism and women’s suffrage. He served as the pastor of Brooklyn’s Plymouth Church and used his pulpit to address pressing social issues of the time. Beecher’s charismatic presence and impassioned speeches captivated audiences, leaving a lasting impact on American society. His commitment to justice, equality, and moral principles made Henry Ward Beecher a key figure in shaping the social and cultural landscape of his era.
In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.
Henry Ward Beecher
The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.
Henry Ward Beecher
Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.
Henry Ward Beecher
Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry.
Henry Ward Beecher
To become an able and successful man in any profession, three things are necessary, nature, study and practice.
Henry Ward Beecher
A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It’s jolted by every pebble on the road.
Henry Ward Beecher
Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.
Henry Ward Beecher
There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them – the senses, intelligent companions, and books.
Henry Ward Beecher
A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.
Henry Ward Beecher
Laughter is not a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is the best ending for one.
Henry Ward Beecher
We never know the love of the parent till we become parents ourselves.
Henry Ward Beecher
All ambitions are lawful except those that climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.
Henry Ward Beecher
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
Henry Ward Beecher
A Christian is nothing but a sinful man who has put himself to school for Christ for the honest purpose of becoming better.
Henry Ward Beecher
A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
Henry Ward Beecher
It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.
Henry Ward Beecher
In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions.
Henry Ward Beecher
God made man to go by motives, and he will not go without them, any more than a boat without steam or a balloon without gas.
Henry Ward Beecher
I can forgive, but I cannot forget,’ is only another way of saying, ‘I cannot forgive.’
Henry Ward Beecher
When a nation’s young men are conservative, its funeral bell is already rung.
Henry Ward Beecher
A library is but the soul’s burying ground. It is a land of shadows.
Henry Ward Beecher
That is true culture which helps us to work for the social betterment of all.
Henry Ward Beecher
Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in our own sunshine.
Henry Ward Beecher
There is no faculty of the human soul so persistent and universal as that of hatred.
Henry Ward Beecher
The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game.
Henry Ward Beecher
A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.
Henry Ward Beecher
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
Henry Ward Beecher
Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
Henry Ward Beecher
A little library, growing every year, is an honorable part of a man’s history. It is a man’s duty to have books.
Henry Ward Beecher
Laws and institutions, like clocks, must occasionally be cleaned, wound up, and set to true time.
Henry Ward Beecher
Books are the windows through which the soul looks out.
Henry Ward Beecher
Love cannot endure indifference. It needs to be wanted. Like a lamp, it needs to be fed out of the oil of another’s heart, or its flame burns low.
Henry Ward Beecher
The strength of a man consists in finding out the way God is going, and going that way.
Henry Ward Beecher
Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments.
Henry Ward Beecher
The soul without imagination is what an observatory would be without a telescope.
Henry Ward Beecher
I don’t like these cold, precise, perfect people who, in order not to speak wrong, never speak at all, and in order not to do wrong, never do anything.
Henry Ward Beecher
Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.
Henry Ward Beecher
The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next.
Henry Ward Beecher
Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into heaven.
Henry Ward Beecher
The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success.
Henry Ward Beecher
Each book has a secret history of ways and means.
Henry Ward Beecher
