Few are there that will leave the secure seclusion of the scholar's life, the peaceful walks of literature and learning, to stand out a target for the criticism of unkind and hostile minds.

The exercises of our meeting are to be simple and devoid of all ceremonial and formalism.

Love is the expansion of two natures in such fashion that each include the other, each is enriched by the other.

If you desire information on some point of law, you are not likely to ponder over the ponderous tomes of legal writers in order to obtain the knowledge you seek, by your own unaided efforts.

Every dogma, every philosophic or theological creed, was at its inception a statement in terms of the intellect of a certain inner experience.

You do not build your own houses, nor make your own garments, nor bake your own bread, simply because you know that if you were to attempt all these things they would all be more or less ill done.

Few are there that will leave the secure seclusion of the scholar's life, the peaceful walks of literature and learning, to stand out a target for the criticism of unkind and hostile minds.

Simplicity should not be identified with bareness.

Admitting the force of these contentions, nevertheless, the custom of meeting together in public assembly for the consideration of the most serious, the most exalted topics of human interest is too vitally precious to be lost.

The freedom of thought is a sacred right of every individual man, and diversity will continue to increase with the progress, refinement, and differentiation of the human intellect.

An anxious unrest, a fierce craving desire for gain has taken possession of the commercial world, and in instances no longer rare the most precious and permanent goods of human life have been madly sacrificed in the interests of momentary enrichment.

The office of the public teacher is an unenviable and thankless one.

Love of country is like love of woman - he loves her best who seeks to bestow on her the highest good.

In a country of such recent civilization as ours, whose almost limitless treasures of material wealth invite the risks of capital and the industry of labor, it is but natural that material interests should absorb the attention of the people to a degree elsewhere unknown.

Where the roots of private virtue are diseased, the fruit of public probity cannot but be corrupt.

The platform of an Ethical Society is itself the altar; the address must be the fire that burns thereon.

The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by.

The Ethical Society, therefore, is like a Church in maintaining, and emphasizing the importance of maintaining the custom of public assemblies on Sunday.

The past speaks to us in a thousand voices, warning and comforting, animating and stirring to action.

No one can fail to see that the power of the Church among large numbers in many communities is today diminishing, or has already ceased.

We measure our enjoyments by the sum expended.

Ethical religion can be real only to those who are engaged in ceaseless efforts at moral improvement. By moving upward we acquire faith in an upward movement, without limit.

FOR a long time the conviction has been dimly felt in the community that, without prejudice to existing institutions, the legal day of weekly rest might be employed to advantage for purposes affecting the general good.

Perhaps a hundred people assembled one evening, May 15, 1876, at the time when the country was celebrating the hundredth anniversary of its political independence.

The ethical manifold, conceived of as unified, furnishes, or rather is, the ideal of the whole.

No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state.

The family is the school of duties - founded on love.

For more than three thousand years men have quarreled concerning the formulas of their faith.

A human being is not to be handled as a tool but is to be respected and revered.

People may be said to resemble not the bricks of which a house is build but the pieces of a picture puzzle each differing in shape but matching the rest and thus bringing out the picture.

Dogma is the convictions of one man imposed authoritatively upon others.

Every dogma every philosophic or theological creed was at its inception a statement in terms of the intellect of a certain inner experience.

To care for anyone else enough to make their problems ones own is ever the beginning of ones real ethical development.

The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by.

Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

To what derision should I be exposed from a thousand quarters!- An unlearned female entering the lists of criticism against the mighty Johnson!

The best thing I can think of would be to create a union between something as beautiful and powerful and wonderful as Hollywood films and a criticism of the status quo. That's my dream, to make such a German film.

Though bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects.

No American soldier should be allowed to set foot on Iranian soil, regardless of the criticism we have of the Iranian government.

The English can be a very critical, unforgiving people, but criticism can be good. And this is a country that loves comedy.

Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.

The dread of criticism is the death of genius.

This issue, if not addressed, leaves any President, including George Bush, open to the criticism that they are essentially ignoring the destruction of the nation and I believe that with all my heart.

A woman's flattery may inflate a man's head a little; but her criticism goes straight to his heart, and contracts it so that it can never again hold quite as much love for her.

I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise.

The strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticized.

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a stranger.

Of course the French are making very credible movies and it is still one of the greatest nations in terms of world cinema but the real problem is the decay in film criticism.

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.