Tryon Edwards

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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