Quotes by John Henry Newman
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A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.
From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery.
Men will die upon dogma but will not fall victim to a conclusion.
It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.
It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain.
Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.
It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing.
Calculation never made a hero.
If we are intended for great ends, we are called to great hazards.
Ability is sexless.
It is almost the definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain.
We must make up our minds to be ignorant of much, if we would know anything.
Virtue is its own reward, and brings with it the truest and highest pleasure; but if we cultivate it only for pleasure's sake, we are selfish, not religious, and will never gain the pleasure, because we can never have the virtue.
It is very difficult to get up resentment towards persons whom one has never seen.
Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.
Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.
A great memory is never made synonymous with wisdom, any more than a dictionary would be called a treatise.
We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.
Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not... We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.
If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar.
Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it.
Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short.
Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, But rather that it shall never have a beginning.
If then the power of speech is as great as any that can be named,
A great memory does not make a mind, any more than a dictionary is a piece of literature.
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