Top 100 Hosea Ballou Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Moderation is the key to lasting enjoyment.”

— Hosea Ballou

2. “No one has a greater asset for his business than a man’s pride in his work.”

— Hosea Ballou

3. “Hatred is self-punishment. Hatred it the coward’s revenge for being intimidated.”

— Hosea Ballou

4. “Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.”

— Hosea Ballou

5. “Between the humble and contrite heart and the majesty of Heaven there are no barriers; the only password is prayer.”

— Hosea Ballou

6. “Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant, remains fruitless.”

— Hosea Ballou

7. “Servility is disgusting to a truly noble character, and engenders only contempt.”

— Hosea Ballou

8. “Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul; and the heart of man knoweth none more fragrant.”

— Hosea Ballou

9. “Pretension almost always overdoes the original, and hence exposes itself.”

— Hosea Ballou

10. “The law of heaven is love.”

— Hosea Ballou

11. “Hatred is self-punishment.”

— Hosea Ballou

12. “Envy may justly be called “the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity;” it is the most acid fruit that grows on the stock of sin, a fluid so subtle that nothing but the fire of divine love can purge it from the soul.”

— Hosea Ballou

13. “There is no immunity from the consequences of sin; punishment is swift and sure to one and all.”

— Hosea Ballou

14. “There is no such thing as “best” in the world of individuals.”

— Hosea Ballou

15. “Disease is the retribution of outraged Nature.”

— Hosea Ballou

16. “Remember, when incited to slander, that it is only he among you who is without sin that may cast the first stone.”

— Hosea Ballou

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

17. “It is the nature of intellect to strive to improve in intellectual power.”

— Hosea Ballou

18. “A mother’s love, in a degree, sanctifies the most worthless offspring.”

— Hosea Ballou

19. “If gratitude is due from children to their earthly parent, how much more is the gratitude of the great family of men due to our father in heaven.”

— Hosea Ballou

20. “All our possessions are as nothing compared to health, strength, and a clear conscience.”

— Hosea Ballou

21. “The act of divine worship is the inestimable privilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration.”

— Hosea Ballou

22. “There is no better rule to try a doctrine by than the question, Is it merciful, or is it unmerciful? If its character is that of mercy, it has the image of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.”

— Hosea Ballou

23. “I have somewhere read that conscience not only sits as witness and judge within our bosoms, but also forms the prison of punishment.”

— Hosea Ballou

24. “A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page.”

— Hosea Ballou

25. “The cloudy weather melts at length into beauty, and the brightest smiles of the heart are born of its tears.”

— Hosea Ballou

26. “Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.”

— Hosea Ballou

27. “As “unkindness has no remedy at law,” let its avoidance be with you a point of honor.”

— Hosea Ballou

28. “Mystery and innocence are not akin.”

— Hosea Ballou

29. “Hypocrisy is oftenest clothed in the garb of religion.”

— Hosea Ballou

30. “Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable.”

— Hosea Ballou

31. “A good smile is the sunshine of wisdom.”

— Hosea Ballou

32. “Education commences at the mother’s knee, and every word spoken within the hearing of children tends toward the formation of character.”

— Hosea Ballou

33. “As the sun’s rays will irradiate even the murky pool, and make its stagnant waters to shine like silver, so doth God’s goodness and tender mercy, towards the greatest sinner, and the blackest heart, make his own image visible there!”

— Hosea Ballou

34. “Be circumspect in your dealings, and let the seed you plant be the offspring of prudence and care; thus fruit follows the fair blossom, as honor follows a good life.”

— Hosea Ballou

35. “Honest and courageous people have very little to say about either their courage or their honesty.”

— Hosea Ballou

36. “How quickly a truly benevolent act is repaid by the consciousness of having done it!”

— Hosea Ballou

37. “The goodness of God to mankind is no less evinced in the chastisement with which He corrects His children than in the smiles of His providence; for the Lord will not cast off forever, but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.”

— Hosea Ballou

38. “No reproof or denunciation is so potent as the silent influence of a good example.”

— Hosea Ballou

39. “You cannot judge by outward appearances; the soul is only transparent to its Maker.”

— Hosea Ballou

40. “With regard to manner, be careful to speak in a soft, tender, kind and loving way. Even when you have occasion to rebuke, be careful to do it with manifest kindness. The effect will be incalculably better.”

— Hosea Ballou

41. “O sin, how you paint your face! how you flatter us poor mortals on to death! You never appear to the sinner in your true character; you make fair promises, but you never fulfil one; your tongue is smoother than oil, but the poison of asps is under your lip!”

— Hosea Ballou

42. “The eye is inlet to the soul.”

— Hosea Ballou

43. “Too many people embrace religion from the same motives that they take a companion in wedlock, not from true love of the person, but because of a large dowry.”

— Hosea Ballou

44. “Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage...”

— Hosea Ballou

45. “Lenity has almost always wisdom and justice on its side.”

— Hosea Ballou

46. “There is no possible excuse for a guarded lie. Enthusiastic and impulsive people will sometimes falsify thoughtlessly, but equivocation is malice prepense.”

— Hosea Ballou

47. “Experience is retrospect knowledge.”

— Hosea Ballou

48. “There is nothing that needs to be said in an unkind manner.”

— Hosea Ballou

49. “The experience of others adds to our knowledge, but not to our wisdom; that is dearer bought.”

— Hosea Ballou

50. “A true religious instinct never deprived man of one single joy; mournful faces and a sombre aspect are the conventional affectations of the weak-minded.”

— Hosea Ballou