We smile at the ignorance o... by William Ellery Channing, an American Writer

William Ellery Channing Quotes

“We smile at the ignorance of the savage who cuts down the tree in order to reach its fruit; but the same blunder is made by every person who is over eager and impatient in the pursuit of pleasure.”

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William Ellery Channing

Author details

Name: William Ellery Channing

Nationality: American

Date of Birth: Apr 7, 1780

Date of Death: Oct 2, 1842

Profession: Writer

Other William Ellery Channing Quotes

One good anecdote is worth a volume of biography.

William Ellery Channing

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Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

William Ellery Channing

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God be thanked for books; they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.

William Ellery Channing

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Every human being has a work to carry on within, duties to perform abroad, influence to exert, which are peculiarly his, and which no conscience but his own can teach.

William Ellery Channing

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Grandeur of character lies wholly in force of soul, that is, in the force of thought, moral principle, and love, and this may be found in the humblest condition of life.

William Ellery Channing

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