Tryon Edwards

Some men are born old, and some men never seem so. If we keep well and cheerful, we are always young and at last die in youth even when in years would count as old.

People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher or better than themselves.

Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow so.

We weep over the graves of infants and the little ones taken from us by death; but an early grave may be the shortest way to heaven.

One of the great lessons the fall of the leaf teaches, is this: do your work well and then be ready to depart when God shall call.

What we gave, we have; What we spent, we had; What we left, we lost.

Seek happiness for its own sake, and you will not find it; seek for duty, and happiness will follow as the shadow comes with the sunshine.

To rule one’s anger is well; to prevent it is better.

Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.

Mystery is but another name for ignorance; if we were omniscient, all would be perfectly plain!

Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.

Credulity is belief in slight evidence, with no evidence, or against evidence.

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

High aims form high characters, and great objects bring out great minds.

Science has sometimes been said to be opposed to faith, and inconsistent with it. But all science, in fact, rests on a basis of faith, for it assumes the permanence and uniformity of natural laws – a thing which can never be demonstrated.

Sinful and forbidden pleasures are like poisoned bread; they may satisfy appetite for the moment, but there is death in them at the end.

Accuracy of statement is one of the first elements of truth; inaccuracy is a near kin to falsehood.

To be good, we must do good; and by doing good we take a sure means of being good, as the use and exercise of the muscles increase their power.

To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully.

Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another – too often ending in the loss of both.

We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living.

The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulation of others.

To rejoice in another’s prosperity is to give content to your lot; to mitigate another’s grief is to alleviate or dispel your own.

Facts are God’s arguments; we should be careful never to misunderstand or pervert them.

Most controversies would soon be ended, if those engaged in them would first accurately define their terms, and then adhere to their definitions.

He that never changes his opinion never corrects mistakes and will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today.

Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steady gains in strength, At first it may be but as a spider’s web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.