If the impure and the unjust, the drunkard and the licentious, are loathsome to us, what must be the infinite loathing of an infinitely pure Spirit for those who are worldly and selfish, licentious and cruel, ambitious and animal! But with this great loathing is a great pity. And the pity conquers the loathing, appeases it, satisfies it, is reconciled with it, only as it redeems the sinner from his loathsomeness, lifts him up from his degradation, brings him to truth and purity, to love and righteousness; for only thus is he or can he be brought to God.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

It is in vain for us to devise schemes by which competition can be put out of civilized life. Competition is the condition of life.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

The ideal of character always runs beyond the attainment.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

A graceful and blessed old age must have three elements in it: a happy retrospect, a peaceful present, and an inspiring future. And old age cannot have either one of these three if the youth has been wasted and manhood has been misspent.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

We often pray for purity, unselfishness, for the highest qualities of character, and forget that these things cannot be given, but must be earned.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

Never say you are too old. You do not say it now, perhaps; but by and by, when the hair grows gray and the eyes grow dim and the young despair comes to curse the old age, you will say, “It is too late for me.” Never too late! Never too old! How old are you–thirty, fifty, eighty? What is that in immortality? We are but children.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

A child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal, with possibilities of virtue and vice – but as yet unstained.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

I think of death as a glad awakening from this troubled sleep which we call life; as an emancipation from a world, which, beautiful though it may be, is still a land of captivity.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

Patience is passion tamed.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)

Every life is a march from innocence, through temptation, to virtue or vice.

Lyman Abbott (Theologian, 1835 – 1922)