Keep one thing in view forever- the truth; and if you do this, though it may seem to lead you away from the opinion of men, it will assuredly conduct you to the throne of God.
Interpretation
Always prioritize truth, even if it distances you from others' opinions, as it leads to a higher understanding.
Horace Mann emphasizes the importance of truth as a guiding principle in life. He suggests that while the pursuit of truth may cause one to diverge from popular opinion or societal norms, it ultimately leads to a deeper connection with the divine or a more profound understanding of existence. This quote highlights the courage it takes to follow one's convictions and the ultimate rewards of being truthful.
In practice
During a public speech about personal values, one might say, 'As Horace Mann put it, we should keep the truth in view forever.'
Under the Providence of God, our means of education are the grand machinery by which the 'raw material' of human nature can be worked up into inventors and discoverers, into skilled artisans and scientific farmers, into scholars and jurists, into the founders of benevolent institutions, and the great expounders of ethical and theological science.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
There may be frugality which is not economy. A community, that withholds the means of education from its children, withholds the bread of life and starves their souls.
Let us labor for that larger comprehension of truth, and that more thorough repudiation of error, which shall make the history of mankind a series of ascending developments.
Great knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been well instructed, but still greater knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been neglected.
Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.
When I write, I feel like an optometrist, constantly flipping between lenses and asking, 'Is this better? Is this?' Slowly, the work comes into focus.
Success is no proof of virtue. In the case of a book, quick acclaim is presumptive evidence of a lack of substance and originality.
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
Frugality includes all the other virtues.
We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention.
Ponder just let it happen. It's because their minds are so often involved with deep and problematic matters, he told himself, that their mouths are allowed to wander around making a nuisance of themselves.
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