Quotes from Joseph Hall

He is great enough that is his own master.

Not only commission makes a sin. A man is guilty of all those sins he hateth not. If I cannot avoid all, yet I will hate all.

He is a very humble man, that thinks not himself better than some others.

A good man is kinder to his enemy than bad men are to their friends.

Garments that have once one rent in them are subject to be torn on every nail, and glasses that are once cracked are soon broken; such is man's good name once tainted with just reproach.

The proud man hath no God; the envious man hath no neighbor; the angry man hath not himself.

How apt nature is, even in those who profess an eminence in holiness, to raise and maintain animosities against those whose calling or person they pretend to find cause to dislike!

A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.

We must first pray, that God would make us wise; before we can wish, he would make us happy.

Not to be afflicted is a sign of weakness; for, therefore God imposeth no more on me, because He sees I can bear no more.

How endless is that volume which God hath written of the world! Every creature is a letter, every day a new page.

He that taketh his own cares upon himself loads himself in vain with an uneasy burden. I will cast all my cares on God; He hath bidden me; they cannot burden Him.

Rich people should consider that they are only trustees for what they posses, and should show their wealth to be more in doing good than merely in having it.

Good prayers never come creeping home. I am sure I shall receive either what I ask, or what I should ask.

Let others either envy or pity me; I care not, so long as I enjoy myself.

If religion might be judged of according to men's intentions, there would scarcely be any idolatry in the world.

Society is the atmosphere of souls; and we necessarily imbibe from it something which is either infectious or healthful.

The life of doctrine is in application.

Seldom was any knowledge given to keep, but to impart; the grace of this rich jewel is lost in concealment.

What I have done is worthy of nothing but silence and forgetfulness, but what God has done for me is worthy of everlasting and thankful memory.

It is not the bee's touching on the flowers that gathers the honey, but her abiding for a time upon them, and drawing out the sweet.

As you see in a pair of bellows, there is a forced breath without life, so in those that are puffed up with the wind of ostentation, there may be charitable words without works.

Perfection is the child of time.

And, if I were so low that I accounted myself the worst of all, yet some would account themselves in worse case.