John Lancaster Spalding Quotes

A collection of quotes by John Lancaster Spalding.

John Lancaster Spalding (1840-1916) was an American Roman Catholic bishop, educator, and writer. Born in Lebanon, Kentucky, he was ordained as a priest in 1863 and later became the first bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois. Spalding was known for his progressive views and commitment to social justice, advocating for workers' rights and education reform. He played a significant role in establishing Catholic schools and colleges in the United States and was a prolific writer, publishing numerous books and articles on a wide range of topics. His contributions to the Catholic Church and American society continue to be celebrated.

If science were nothing more than the best means of teaching

If science were nothing more than the best means of teaching the love of the simple fact, the indispensable need of verification, of careful and accurate observation and statement, its value would be of the highest order.

John Lancaster Spalding

When with all thy heart thou strivest to live with truth and

When with all thy heart thou strivest to live with truth and love, couldst thou do anything better?... If this be thy life, thou shalt not deem it a misfortune to lack the things men most crave and toil for.

John Lancaster Spalding

Men Life Truth Love Misfortune

If truth make us not truthful, what service can it render us

If truth make us not truthful, what service can it render us?

John Lancaster Spalding

Friends humor and flatter us, they steal our time, they enco

Friends humor and flatter us, they steal our time, they encourage our love of ease, they make us content with ourselves, they are the foes of our virtue and our glory.

John Lancaster Spalding

Time Humor Funny Love Glory Virtues Thetimes Content

There are faults which show heart and win hearts, while the

There are faults which show heart and win hearts, while the virtue in which there is no love, repels.

John Lancaster Spalding

Love Virtues Faults

However firmly thou holdest to thy opinions, if truth appear

However firmly thou holdest to thy opinions, if truth appears on the opposite side, throw down thy arms at once.

John Lancaster Spalding

Education would be a divine thing, if it did nothing more th

Education would be a divine thing, if it did nothing more than help us to think and love great thoughts instead of little thoughts.

John Lancaster Spalding

Education Love Help

The seeking for truth is better than its loveless possession

The seeking for truth is better than its loveless possession.

John Lancaster Spalding

The disinterested love of truth which culture fosters is aki

The disinterested love of truth which culture fosters is akin to the unselfishness which is a characteristic of the good.

John Lancaster Spalding

Truth Love Culture

The more we live with what we imagine others think of us, th

The more we live with what we imagine others think of us, the less we live with truth.

John Lancaster Spalding

Each individual bears within himself an ideal man, and to br

Each individual bears within himself an ideal man, and to bring him forth in perfect form is his divinely imposed life-work.

John Lancaster Spalding

When we have not the strength or the courage to grasp a new

When we have not the strength or the courage to grasp a new truth, we persuade ourselves that it is not a truth at all.

John Lancaster Spalding

Beauty least adorned is most adorned

Beauty least adorned is most adorned

John Lancaster Spalding

Beauty lies not in the things we see, but in the soul.

Beauty lies not in the things we see, but in the soul.

John Lancaster Spalding

As a brave man goes into fire or flood or pestilence to save

As a brave man goes into fire or flood or pestilence to save a human life, so a generous mind follows after truth and love, and is not frightened from the pursuit by danger or toil or obloquy.

John Lancaster Spalding

Life Truth Love Man Danger Mind

The study of law is valuable as a mental discipline, but the

The study of law is valuable as a mental discipline, but the practice of pleading tends to make one petty, formal, and insincere. To be driven to look to legality rather than to equity blurs the view of truth and justice.

John Lancaster Spalding

Truth Discipline

In education, as in religion and love, compulsion thwarts th

In education, as in religion and love, compulsion thwarts the purpose for which it is employed.

John Lancaster Spalding

Education Love Religion Purpose

True readers... are ready to go through a whole volume, if t

True readers... are ready to go through a whole volume, if there be but hope of finding in it a single genuine thought or the mere suggestion even of a truth which has some fresh application to life.

John Lancaster Spalding

It is the tendency of the study of science to make us patien

It is the tendency of the study of science to make us patient, humble and attentive to the smallest things. Is not this part of religion?

John Lancaster Spalding

Religion Science

The study of science, dissociated from that of philosophy an

The study of science, dissociated from that of philosophy and literature, narrows the mind and weakens the power to love and follow the noblest ideals: for the truths which science ignores and must ignore are precisely those which have the deepest bearing on life and conduct.

John Lancaster Spalding

Life Truth Power Love Science Philosophy Mind Literature