The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
We not only live among men, but there are airy hosts, blessed spectators, sympathetic lookers-on, that see and know and appreciate our thoughts and feelings and acts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the idea that we are not alone in our experiences, as there are unseen forces or beings that understand and value our inner lives.
Henry Ward Beecher suggests that human existence is not solitary; rather, it is shared with unseen observers—whether they be spiritual beings or the collective consciousness of humanity. These 'airy hosts' represent the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and actions resonate beyond just the physical world, contributing to a larger tapestry of understanding and appreciation. This implies a connection between the individual and the broader universe, emphasizing the significance of our experiences.
Themes
ExistenceConnectionObserversThoughtsFeelings
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the impact of our actions on others during a community event.
More from Henry Ward Beecher
All quotes →A man who cannot get angry is like a stream that cannot overflow, that is always turbid. Sometimes indignation is as good as a thunderstorm in summer, clearing and cooling the air.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
No one can deal with the hearts of men unless he has the sympathy which is given by love.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
No man can tell if he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. 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 BeecherRead
There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousands truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, and then fly away.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
Similar quotes
Any pilot can describe the mechanics of flying. What it can do for the spirit of man is beyond description.
Barry GoldwaterRead
The interviewer should just tell me the words he wants me to say and I’ll repeat them after him. I think that would be so great because I’m so empty I just can’t think of anything to say.
Andy WarholRead
I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.
Jim ElliotRead
there was no greater natural advantage in life than having an enemy overestimate your faults, unless it was to have a friend underestimate your virtues.
Mario PuzoRead
There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with realities outside and above us.
Thomas MertonRead
...that melancholy which we feel when we cease to obey orders which, from one day to another, keep the future hidden, and realise that we have at last begun to live in real earnest, as a grown-up person, the life, the only life that any of us has at his disposal.
Marcel ProustRead