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The Quotes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
God heeds not what we say, but what we are and what we do.\u2014William Ellery Channing (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Discourse on the Church,” The Works of William Ellery Channing<\/em> (1903), vol. 6, p. 186<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there is no struggle, there is no progress.\u2014Frederick Douglass<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a speech by Douglass, as quoted in Frederick Douglass the Colored Orator, <\/em>Frederic May Holland, 1891, p. 261.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.\u2014Edith Wharton<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVesalius in Zante,\u201d North American Review,<\/em> 1902<\/p>\n\n\n\n People who look too long upon evil without opposing it go dead inside.\u2014Edith Green<\/p>\n\n\n\n Found in a speech given to Congress by Hon. Edith Green of Oregon, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Jane Addams, Congressional Record,<\/em> vol. 106, part 25, September 8, 1960. This quote has been attributed to others; it could be that Green was quoting someone without attribution; but in the absence of contrary evidence, I’m assuming it was by her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The needs of a society determine its ethics.\u2014Maya Angelou<\/p>\n\n\n\n I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings<\/em> (1969)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without adventure civilization is in full decay.\u2014Alfred North Whitehead<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adventures of Ideas<\/em> (1933), p. 279<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great speech is exact and complete. Small speech is merely so much talk.\u2014Zhuangzi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhunagzi,<\/em> Book 2, trans. James Legge<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.\u2014Rumi<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Essential Rumi,<\/em> trans. Coleman Barks with John Moyne<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.\u2014Horace Mann (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Baccalaureate Address of 1859, Life and Works of Horace Mann,<\/em> vol. V, 1891, p. 524<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.\u2014William Wordsworth<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey,\u201d 1798<\/p>\n\n\n\n Love is a growing up.\u2014James Baldwin<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn Search of a Majority,\u201d The Price of the Ticket,<\/em> p. 234<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our growing thought makes growing revelation.\u2014George Eliot<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Spanish Gypsy\u201d (1868)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Love is a faith, and one faith leads to another.\u2014Henri-Frederic Amiel<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amiel\u2019s Journal: The Journal Intime of Henri-Frederic Amiel,<\/em> trans. Mrs. Humphry Ward (1889), p. 94<\/p>\n\n\n\n The universe will reward you for taking risks on its behalf.\u2014Shakti Gawain<\/p>\n\n\n\n Living in the Light,<\/em> p. 170<\/p>\n\n\n\n An idea is salvation by imagination.\u2014Frank Lloyd Wright (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTwo Lectures on Architecture\u201d (1931) in The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright: Critical Writings on Architecture<\/em> (2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Time does not change us. It just unfolds us.\u2014Max Frisch<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sketchbook 1946-1949<\/em> (1950)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are all geniuses when we dream.\u2014E. M. Cioran<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Temptation To Exist<\/em> (1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.\u2014Martin Luther King<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousness” (1960)<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is courage the world needs, not infallibility.\u2014Wilfred Grenfell<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Labrador Logbook<\/em> (1938), p. 349<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ambitious people climb, but faithful people build.\u2014Julia Ward Howe (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Walk with God\u201d (1919)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We create legacy with thoughts and dreams.\u2014Joy Harjo<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crazy Brace: A Memoir<\/em> (2012)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals.\u2014Gandhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHindu-Muslim Question in India,\u201d Gandhi: Selected Political Writings <\/em>(1996), p. 110<\/p>\n\n\n\n The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.\u2014Martin Luther King<\/p>\n\n\n\n This quote derives from Theodore Parker, and is quoted by King (without attribution, but in quotation marks) in his article \u201cOut of the Long Night\u201d in the Feb. 8, 1958, issue of The Gospel Messenger,<\/em> p. 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is only love which sets us free.\u2014Maya Angelou<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA Brave and Startling Truth\u201d (1995)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.\u2014Martin Luther King<\/p>\n\n\n\n From \u201cThe Casualties of the War in Vietnam,\u201d talk given on February 25, 1967, The Nation Institute, Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t compromise yourself. You are all you\u2019ve got.\u2014Janis Joplin<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Quote Investigator, Joplin was quoted as saying this in an article by Patsi Aucoin in the Feb. 16, 1970, issue of the Irving [Texas] Daily News,<\/em> in an article titled \u201cMaxi-Rap \u201970: Students looking at hard facts,\u201d p. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The journey of a thousand miles commenced with a single step.\u2014Daodejing<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daodejing<\/em> 64, in the James Legge translation. Legge used the Chinese measurement “li” instead of “mile.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t support the phonies, support the real.\u2014Tupac Shakur<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrison Interviews and Interrogations\u201d (1995)<\/p>\n\n\n\n May your life preach more loudly than your lips.\u2014William Ellery Channing (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnitarian Christianity,\u201d the Jared Sparks ordination sermon (1819)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we are to reach real peace in this world, we shall have to begin with children.\u2014Gandhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Young India,<\/em> Oct. 15, 1931. The actual quote is: \u201cIf we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on real war against war, we shall have to begin with children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n All serious daring starts from within.\u2014Eudora Welty<\/p>\n\n\n\n One Writer\u2019s Beginnings<\/em> (1984)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lying is done with words, and also with silence.\u2014Adrienne Rich<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWomen and Honor: Some Notes on Lying\u201d (1975), p. 187<\/p>\n\n\n\n Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.\u2014Gandhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13<\/em> (3 May 1919)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Memory is where the proof of life is stored.\u2014Norman Cousins (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Healing Heart: Antidotes to Panic and Depression<\/em> (1984), p. 192<\/p>\n\n\n\n What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?\u2014George Eliot<\/p>\n\n\n\n Middlemarch,<\/em> chapter XLIV<\/p>\n\n\n\n No lie can live forever.\u2014Martin Luther King<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a transcript of a speech he gave in Montgomery, Alabama on 25 March 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blessed are those who dream, for some of their dreams will come true.\u2014Harry Meserve (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n From his \u201cModern Beatitudes,\u201d as reprinted in the July, 2001, issue of the newsletter of the UU Church of Ellsworth, Me., where Meserve was minister emeritus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we are, so we associate.\u2014Ralph Waldo Emerson (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Divinity School Address” (1838)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most people have to talk so they won\u2019t hear.\u2014May Sarton<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Reckoning: A Novel<\/em> (1978)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is silence the answer? It never was.\u2014Elie Wiesel<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Holocaust as Literary Inspiration,\u201d Dimensions of the Holocaust: Lectures at Northwestern University,<\/em> Weisel et al. (1977), p. 19<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tact is after all a kind of mind reading.\u2014Sarah Orne Jewett<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere Pennyroyal Grew,\u201d Country of the Pointed Firs<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What the earth is, we are.\u2014Walt Whitman<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass,<\/em> \u201cWe Two, How Long We were Fool\u2019d.\u201d This line was dropped in the 1867 edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hatred does not cease by hatred. Hatred ceases by love.\u2014Dhammapada<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dhammapada,<\/em> Yammakavagga \u201cThe Pairs,\u201d v. 5, trans. Max Muller. The original reads, \u201cHatred does not cease by hatred at any time, hatred ceases by love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why should we live in such a hurry and waste of life?\u2014Henry David Thoreau (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” Walden<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n God means movement, and not explanation.\u2014Elie Wiesel<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elie Wiesel: A Challenge to Theology<\/em>, ed. Graham B. Walker (1988), p. 72<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you understood everything I said, you\u2019d be me.\u2014Miles Davis<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is quoted in Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew<\/em> by Victor Svorinich (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2015), with a citation, so it appears to be something Davis actually said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When in doubt, tell the truth.\u2014Mark Twain<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the Equator<\/em> (1899), p. 25<\/p>\n\n\n\n The more I wonder, the more I love.\u2014Alice Walker<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Color Purple<\/em> (1982). The original reads: \u201cThe more I wonder, he say, the more I love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life\u2019s most urgent question is\u2014what are you doing for others?\u2014Martin Luther King<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoted in The Words of Martin Luther King Jr.,<\/em> by Coretta Scott King 2nd ed. (2011), \u201cCommunity of Man,\u201d p. 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poetry teaches us that everything is connected.\u2014Lucille Clifton<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was quoted in \u201cPoet Lucille Clifton: ‘Everything Is Connected’\u201d in NPR (2010 Feb 28). The original reads, \u201cOne thing poetry teaches us, if anything, is that everything is connected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hold fast to dreams.\u2014Langston Hughes<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDreams,\u201d The World Tomorrow<\/em> (1923)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We must take care to feed the minds, hearts, and spirits of those coming up behind us.\u2014Joy Harjo<\/p>\n\n\n\n Catching the Light<\/em> (2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged.\u2014Rabindranath Tagore<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Stray Birds<\/em> (1916). The original reads, “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts.\u2014Nikki Giovanni<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf Liberation,\u201d Black Feeling, Black Talk \/ Black Judgment<\/em> (1968, 1970), p. 48<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goodness is the only investment that never fails.\u2014Henry David Thoreau (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Higher Laws,” Walden<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.\u2014Isaac Asimov<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Foundation<\/em> (1951), where it is said by the character Salvor Hardin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.\u2014Soren Kierkegaard<\/p>\n\n\n\n Either\/Or,<\/em> trans. Swenson (1959), p. 28. I changed \u201cmen\u201d to \u201cpeople.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n No claims of any and all revelations could be so far-fetched as a single giraffe.\u2014Annie Dillard<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pilgrim at Tinker Creek<\/em> (1974)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore gain wisdom.\u2014Proverbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n As trans. George Noyes, Translations from the Psalms and Proverbs,<\/em> AUA, 1880.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury.\u2014Hosea Ballou (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treatise on Atonement<\/em> (1805)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety.\u2014Louisa May Alcott (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Little Women<\/em> (1868)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To frame the question rightly is the beginning of wisdom.\u2014Kenneth Patton (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hymns of Humanity<\/em> (1980)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We don\u2019t ask for words. We ask for deeds.\u2014Cesar Chavez<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Mexican-American and the Church,\u201d speech at 2nd Annual Mexican Conference, Sacramento, Calif., March, 1968.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kindle the flames of love where people\u2019s sorrows reign.\u2014Norbert Capek (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n From his song \u201cKindle the Flames of Love\u201d (Zapalte obne lasky), reprinted and trans. in Richard Henry, Norbert Fabian Capek: A Spiritual Journey.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no graduation from the University of Life.\u2014Imaoka Shinichiro (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n From his talk of that title on 3 June 1979, trans. in Cosmic Sage: Imaoka Shin\u2019ichiro, Prophet of Free Religion.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no standing still in life. Either we grow or we die.\u2014Dana McLean Greeley (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToward Something Great,\u201d in Forward Through the Ages<\/em> (1986), p. 105.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Education is one of the blessings of life \u2014 and one of its necessities.\u2014Malala Yousafzai<\/p>\n\n\n\n From her Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, December 10, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hope is not passive. Hope is taking action.\u2014Greta Thunberg<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoted in “‘Blah, blah, blah\u2019: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis,” by Damian Carrington, The Guardian,<\/em> Sept. 28, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When life is difficult, we are not alone in the struggle.\u2014Mark Morrison-Reed (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Preface,” Black Pioneers in a White Denomination,<\/em> 1994 edition<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness.\u2014Anne Frank<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGive,\u201d The Works of Anne Frank<\/em> (1959)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vulnerability is not weakness, it\u2019s our greatest measure of courage.\u2014Brene Brown<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atlas of the Heart<\/em> (2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is not what you look at, but what you see.\u2014Henry David Thoreau (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Journal,<\/em> Aug. 5, 1851<\/p>\n\n\n\n Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.\u2014Simone Weil<\/p>\n\n\n\n From an April 13, 1942 letter to poet Jo\u00eb Bousquet, published in their collected correspondence (Correspondance<\/em> [Lausanne: Editions l’Age d’Homme, 1982], p. 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chasing curiosity means that my purpose is constantly unfolding in front of me.\u2014Yara Shahidi<\/p>\n\n\n\n From her TED talk “Let Curiosity Lead,” April, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The holy takes place in our connections to and with one another.\u2014Mr. Barb Greve (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “With Diversity Comes Strength,” UU World<\/em>, summer 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n Love is fearless.\u2014Taylor Swift<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the liner notes to her Fearless<\/em> album (2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rest is not a luxury, a privilege, or a bonus we must wait for once we are burned out.\u2014Tricia Hersey<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto<\/em> (2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s possible to succeed with all of your imperfections.\u2014Karen K. Uhlenbeck (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoted in “A Personal Profile of Karen K. Uhlenbeck,” S. Ambrose et al., Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering, No Universal Constants<\/em> (1997), Temple University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve learned from experience that the truth will out.\u2014Richard Feynman<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Cargo Cult Science,” in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!,<\/em> p. 342<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like what you do, and then you will do your best.\u2014Katharine Johnson<\/p>\n\n\n\n From her official website. This is likely derived from a passage in her autobiography, Reaching for the Moon<\/em>: “If you like something, you will do your best” p. 184.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If people had more of a sense of humor, things might turn out differently.\u2014Stanislaw Lem<\/p>\n\n\n\n Solaris<\/em> (1961), trans. Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox (1970), p. 184. The original had “man” instead of “people”; “might have turned” instead of “might turn.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n As human beings, we are part of the whole stream of life.\u2014Rachel Carson<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a 1954 speech, Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson<\/em> (1998).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will get to a better state in the end by each playing our small part.\u2014Tim Berners-Lee (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the online essay “The World Wide Web and the ‘Web of Life'” (1998).<\/p>\n\n\n\n How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.\u2014Annie Dillard<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Writing Life<\/em> (1989)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was thinking of the greatness of what was human, and found myself in the divine.\u2014Juan Ramon Jimenez<\/p>\n\n\n\n As trans. by Robert Bly in The Winged Energy of Delight: Poems from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The highest knowledge is to know that we are surrounded by mystery.\u2014Albert Schweitzer<\/p>\n\n\n\n Albert Schweitzer: An Anthology<\/em>, ed. Charles R. Joy (1947), pp. 102-3. Joy cites Schweitzer’s Christianity and the Religions of the World<\/em>, pp. 77 ff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.\u2014Louis Nizer<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflections without Mirrors: An Autobiography of the Mind<\/em> (1978), p. 94<\/p>\n\n\n\n My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.\u2014Thomas Paine<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights of Man, part II<\/em> (1792), chapter V<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every American.\u2014Thomas Paine<\/p>\n\n\n\n Common Sense<\/em> (1776). \u201cInhabitant of America\u201d changed to \u201cAmerican\u201d for brevity\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only way to be truly happy is to make others happy.\u2014William Carlos Williams (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a letter to his mother (1904) published in The Selected Letters of William Carlos Williams<\/em> (1957), e.d John C. Thirlwal, p. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all of the answers.\u2014James Thurber<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fables for Our Time<\/em> (1940).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures.\u2014Han Suyin<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Malcom MacDonald’s Introduction to Han Suyin’s 1952 novel, A Many-Splendored Thing,<\/em> he quotes her as saying (p. 12): “European and American authors write with great beauty and perception about Asians. I write as an Asian, with all the pent-up emotions of my people. What I say will annoy many people who prefer the more conventional myths brought back by writers on the Orient. All I can say is that I try to tell the truth. Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures.” Han Suyin was the pen name of Elizabeth Rosalie Matilda Kuanghu Chou, known by her married name Elizabeth Comber in 1952.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because I have known the torments of thirst I would dig a well where others may drink.\u2014E. T. Seton<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Preface,” Two Little Savages<\/em> (1903). Seton is now in poor repute due to his colonialism and racial attitudes; however, this remains a pretty good quote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may not be able to do great things, but you can at least try to do the small things in a great way.\u2014Anonymous<\/p>\n\n\n\n The earliest citation so far is the July 1910 issue of \u201cIdeal Power: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Compressed Air and Electrical Appliances\u201d (Ideal Power Publishing Co., Chicago). No attribution is given there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trouble neglected becomes still more troublesome.\u2014A. W. Loomis<\/p>\n\n\n\n This appears in Confucius and the Chinese Classics: Or Readings in Chinese Literature,<\/em> ed. and compiled by Rev. A. W. Loomis, p. 353; Loomis attributes it to Notitia Linguae Sinicae,<\/em> trans. into French by Premare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonsense will fall of its own weight, by a sort of law of intellectual gravitation.\u2014Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n An Autobiography and Other Recollections<\/em> (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 233<\/p>\n\n\n\n Science, to me, has been a religious experience.\u2014Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n An Autobiography and Other Recollections<\/em> (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 221<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.\u2014Kurt Vonnegut (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Introduction,” Mother Night<\/em> (1962)<\/p>\n\n\n\n War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace with justice.\u2014Norman Cousins (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Who Speaks for Man?” (1953)<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of life’s best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem.\u2014Robert Fulghum (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door<\/em> (2001)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m here to change the world, and if I am not, I am probably wasting my time.\u2014Utah Phillips (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoted by David Kupfer, “Utah Phillips,” The Progressive,<\/em> Sept., 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing is complete and thus nothing is exempt from criticism.\u2014James Luther Adams (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Being Human Religiously<\/em> (1976)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Love is the answer.\u2014St. Vincent (Annie Clark)<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the song “All My Stars Aligned” (2007).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Humanity cannot do without beauty.\u2014Albert Camus<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Helen’s Exile” (1948)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.\u2014Simone de Beauvoir<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Blood of Others<\/em> (1946)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our beliefs are really rules for action.\u2014William James<\/p>\n\n\n\n “A Defense of Pragmatism: II. What Pragmatism Means,” Popular Science Monthly, <\/em>April 1907<\/p>\n\n\n\n Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear\u2014not absence of fear.\u2014Mark Twain<\/p>\n\n\n\n Puddn’head Wilson,<\/em> ch. 12<\/p>\n\n\n\n Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.\u2014Amelia Earhart<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a 1928 poem first published in Amelia, My Courageous Sister: Biography of Amelia Earhart<\/em> by Muriel Earhart Morrissey and Carol L. Osborne (1987), p. 74. The original poem has a line break after “that”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the depths of winter I discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.\u2014Albert Camus<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Return to Tipasa,” as quoted in Nathan A. Scott, The Unquiet Vision: Mirrors of Man in Existentialism<\/em> (New York: World Pub. Co., 1969), p. 118<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faith is the subtle chain which binds us to the infinite.\u2014Elizabeth Oakes Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Atheism in Three Sonnets,” The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Oakes Smith,<\/em> 2nd ed. (New York: James Redfield, 1846), p. 122<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have knowledge, let others light their candle at yours.\u2014Thomas Fuller<\/p>\n\n\n\n Introductio ad Prudentiam: or, Directions, Counsels, and Cautions, Tending to Prudent Management of Affairs in Common Life,<\/em> Part II (1727), p. 2. I changed “thou” and “thine” in the original to “you” and “yours.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n They come to church to share God, not find God.\u2014Alice Walker<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Color Purple<\/em> (1982), p. 193<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two things fill us with admiration and reverence: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.\u2014Immanuel Kant<\/p>\n\n\n\n Critique of Practical Reason,<\/em> 5:161. The actual quotation is as follows (in the translation by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott): “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.\u2014Rabindranath Tagore<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stray Birds<\/em> (1916), p. 33, number 130<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are all individualists till we wake up.\u2014P. G. Wodehouse<\/p>\n\n\n\n Piccadilly Jim<\/em> (1916), chapter VI<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create dialogue \u2014 you won’t change people\u2019s minds by telling them they\u2019re dumb.\u2014Tak Toyoshima<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a 2021 interview, “Teach-In on Race: Tak Toyoshima on Using Art to Heal the World,” Emerson College website<\/a>. Edited for length; the original reads: “You want to create a dialogue, because in the end, you\u2019re not going to change people\u2019s minds by telling them they\u2019re dumb.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Always look for the helpers. There’s always someone who is trying to help.\u2014Fred Rogers<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mister Rogers Talks with Parents<\/em> (Berkley Books, 1983), p. 177<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is only through the ordinary that the extraordinary can make itself perceived.\u2014P. L. Travers<\/p>\n\n\n\n From an interview with Travers, “P. L. Travers, The Art of Fiction No. 63,” The Paris Review,<\/em> winter, 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.\u2014Ralph Waldo Emerson (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Circles,” Essays, First Series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To have beauty is to have only that, but to have goodness is to be beautiful too.\u2014Sappho<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Poems of Sappho,<\/em> trans. Suzy Q. Groden (1967)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hitch your wagon to a star.\u2014Ralph Waldo Emerson (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Civilization,” The Conduct of Life<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.\u2014Ralph Waldo Emerson (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Social Aims,” Letters and Social Aims<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Knowledge is more than equivalent to force.\u2014Samuel Johnson<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rasselas,<\/em> ch. xiii<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember this, that very little is needed to make a happy life.\u2014Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meditations,<\/em> vii, 67 (trans. in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations,<\/em> 1905)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it is not seemly, do it not. If it is not true, speak it not.\u2014Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meditations,<\/em> xii, 17 (trans. in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations,<\/em> 1905)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The truth is always the strongest argument.\u2014Sophocles<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ph\u00e6dra,<\/em> fragment 737 (trans. in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations,<\/em> 1905)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest opportunity in life is the unfoldment of your own personality.\u2014Preston Bradley (UU)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoted in “Dr. Preston Bradley: Amazing Grace,” Chi Town,<\/em> Norbert Blei (2003).<\/p>\n\n\n\n If civilization has an opposite, it is war.\u2014Ursula K. Le Guin<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Left Hand of Darkness<\/em> (1969)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To oppose something is to maintain it.\u2014Ursula K. Le Guin<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Left Hand of Darkness<\/em> (1969)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doubt is an incentive to truth, and patient inquiry leads the way.\u2014Hosea Ballou<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoted in Treasury of Thought: An Encyclopedia of Quotations,<\/em> by Maturin M. Ballou. While I haven’t located the source of this quote in Ballou’s works, because Maturin was his son, it seems likely this is genuine. One small change: “leadeth” has been changed to “leads.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Justice at its best is love.\u2014Martin Luther King<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Where Do We Go From Here?” speech given 16 August 1967, transcribed The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute<\/p>\n\n\n\n Humankind. Be both.\u2014Jamie Washam<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoted by Sanika Phwade in God Is Non-Binary<\/em> (n.d., circa 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn’t make any sense.\u2014James Thurber<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further Fables for Our Time<\/em> (1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.\u2014Thomas Paine<\/p>\n\n\n\n First Principles of Government<\/em> (1795)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am concerned to strive for a coherent, integrated life.\u2014Juanita Nelson<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Nonviolence of Daily Living,” quoted in “Everyday Nonviolence at the Nelson Homestead on Woolman Hill, Deerfield, Massachusetts” (n.d., circa 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s an adventure to live what you believe.\u2014Juanita Nelson<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Juanita’s Words of Wisdom,” compiled and edited by Aaron Falbel, Nelson Homestead at Woolman Hill, 2023. The original reads: \u201c[I]sn\u2019t it an adventure to try to live what you believe? That\u2019s my A major concern for many religious liberals these days is knowing what identity or identities can be attributed to authors. However, identity can be complicated. Take the example of William Carlos Williams: he had a Puerto Rican mother and an Anglo father, so what did he consider his identity to be, and what identity would we assign him to? If, for example, we call Williams “Latinx,” that’s a category which would not have been familiar to him. To put this another way: does Williams get to choose his own identity, or do we get to choose for him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because it’s easy enough to find most of these authors on Wikipedia, or your preferred source for information on the Web, I decided to let you do your own research, and draw your own conclusions as to their identity. I did make an effort to include authors from different races, genders, etc., although I admit you’ll find a distinct bias towards people who are religiously liberal\/progressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have, however, added “(UU)” to the names of authors who were or are affiliated with Unitarianism, Universalism, Unitarian Universalism, or a related religious group. These authors and their affiliation(s) include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other authors who are either UU-adjacent or some other variety of religious liberal include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For your reference, here’s a partial list of some of the questionable attributions and questionable quotes I’ve uncovered on the UUA list of Wayside Pulpit quotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “You need not think alike to love alike.” \u2014 Francis David. This was debunked in a UU World article<\/a>. This article points out that John Wesley, founder of Methodism, said something very similar to this. So if you want to use a quote with a similar sentiment, use this: “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?” \u2014 and attribute it to John Wesley. However, be aware that Wesley may have used this question rhetorically, and his answer wasn’t necessarily “Yes”; see this blog post<\/a>. Because of all this, I’ve left it out of the quotes above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I defy the tyranny of precedent.” \u2014 Clara Barton. It looks to me as though these are the words of Barton’s biographer. In the 1922 Life of Clara Barton,<\/em> biographer William Eleazar Barton wrote: \u201cHaving once decided upon a course that defied the tyranny of precedent, she held true\u2026\u201d (p. 359). So her biographer appears to have been the source from which this quote was invented. So I’ve left it out of the quotes above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” \u2014 attributed to James Freeman Clarke, but this is also attributed to Napoleon Hill and Martin Luther King. The earliest citation I found was in the July 1910 issue of \u201cIdeal Power: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Compressed Air and Electrical Appliances\u201d (Ideal Power Publishing Co., Chicago) as follows: \u201cYou may not be able to do great things, but you can at least try to do the small things in a great way,\u201d with no attribution. I’m inclined to believe it is one of those late 19th or early 20th C. made-up inspirational quotes that are so common. If your main interest in this quote is its allegedly Unitarian Universalist origins, then it’s not worth using. Otherwise, this should be attributed to “Anonymous,” as I’ve done in the list of quotes above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.” \u2014 Edmund Burke. Debunked by Quote Investigator website, clearly not by Burke<\/a>. Read the Quote Investigator article, as similar sentiments have been expressed in various ways by several different authors. This should be attributed to “Anonymous.” Because the provenance is so questionable, I decided not to include it in the list above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Because I have been athirst, I will dig a well that others may drink.” \u2014 Arabian proverb. Nope, it’s not Arabian. This appears in Ernest Thompson Seton’s book Two Little Savages<\/em> as the (very short) preface: “Because I have known the torments of thirst I would dig a well where others may drink. E.T.S.” Seton is no longer considered politically correct, so you might want to think about whether you want to use this quote. At the very least, don’t call it Arabian and use Seton’s actual phrasing \u2014 that’s what I do in the list of quotes above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Courage is the conquest of fear, not the absence of it.” The UUA attributes this to Unitarian minister A. Powell Davies. If he said it, he was paraphrasing Mark Twain’s novel Pudd’nhead Wilson<\/em>, where a very similar sentence appears at the very beginning of chapter 12: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear \u2014 not absence of fear.” Twain’s novel predates A. Powell Davies, so clearly this quote belongs to Twain. The Twain quote appears in the list above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Beliefs are really rules for action.” Wrongly attributed to Charles Saunders Peirce, this sentence actually comes from William James, “A Defense of Pragmatism: II. What Pragmatism Means,” Popular Science Monthly, April 1907. The full quotation is: “Mr. Peirce, after pointing out that our beliefs are really rules for action,<\/em> said that, to develop a thought’s meaning, we need only determine what conduct it is fitted to produce; that conduct is for us its sole significance.” In this passage James is summarizing Peirce’s famous essay “How To Make Our Ideas Clear”; nowhere in that essay does Peirce say that “beliefs are really rules for action.” This is James’s interpretation of Peirce; some would argue that it has more of James in it than that of Peirce; and it most certainly was not said by Peirce. In the list above, it’s attributed to James.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “If you have knowledge, let others light their candle at it.” The UUA attributes this to Margaret Fuller, the 19th century Unitarian feminist. However, in 1727, Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) wrote “If thou hast knowledge, let others light their candle at thine” which was published in his Introductio ad Prudentiam: or, Directions, Counsels, and Cautions, Tending to Prudent Management of Affairs in Common Life,<\/em> Part II (1727), page 2 (you can find this book on Google Books<\/a>). I’ve used Thomas Fuller’s original quote in the list above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We live in a world so full of responsibility that dogmatism is simply indecent.” The UUA attributes this to UU minister Harry Meserve. Other sources attribute it to Albert Einstein, although usually in the form, “The world is so full of possibilities that dogmatism is simply indecent.” But I can find no good original source showing that either Einstein or Meserve actually said this. Given the lack of a source, I’ve left it out of the list of quotes above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Trouble neglected becomes still more troublesome.” \u2014 Confucius. This is most likely not by Confucius. It was apparently quoted in \u201cApothegms and Proverbs,\u201d Notitia Linguae Sinicae,<\/em> trans. into French by Premare; from there trans. into English in Confucius and the Chinese Classics: Or Readings in Chinese Literature,<\/em> ed. and compiled by Rev. A. W. Loomis, p. 353. Loomis gives no source is given for this quote, aside from
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adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAbout the authors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nQuestionable attributions on the UUA list<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Quotes that were invented<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Quotes with incorrect attributions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Quotes with uncertain attributions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n