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
When a man sells eleven ounces for twelve, he makes a compact with the devil, and sells himself for the value of an ounce.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns against dishonesty and moral compromise for the sake of profit.
Henry Ward Beecher's quote illustrates how engaging in deceitful practices, even for a small gain, can lead to moral corruption. Selling less than what one claims, symbolized by 'selling eleven ounces for twelve,' signifies a compromise of integrity, suggesting that even a minor act of dishonesty diminishes one's worth as a person, equating to selling one's soul for trivial gain.
Themes
IntegrityHonestyDeceitMoral CompromiseProfit
In practice
Example use cases
In a business ethics lecture, this quote can highlight the importance of honesty in transactions.
More from Henry Ward Beecher
All quotes βA 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
Our environments shape the way we see ourselves. If you have been condemned to live in an area that is pretty evidently a rat-run, then sooner or later you're gonna come to the conclusion that you're a rat.
Alan MooreRead
If your life is Christ, then your death will be only more of Christ, forever. If your life is only Christlessness, then your death will be only more Christlessness, forever. That's not fundamentalism, that's the law of non-contradiction.
Peter KreeftRead
The Middle East is ailing. The malady stems from pervasive violence, shortages of food, water and educational opportunities, discrimination against women and - the most virulent cause of all - the absence of freedom.
Shimon PeresRead
Hypocrisy is wretched because the hypocrite says with his tongue what is not in his heart. He wrongs his tongue and oppresses his heart. But if the heart is sound, the condition of the tongue follows suit. We are commanded to be upright in speech, which is a gauge of the heart's state.
Hamza YusufRead
But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there.
Ernest HemingwayRead
Jesus comes among us, in our all division, not to instruct, comfort or inspire but to die. In doing so, He answers the sum of our self-regard, stupidity and cruelty.
Richard ColesRead