James Freeman Clarke (1810–88) was an American theologian and author. Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, James Freeman Clarke attended the Boston Latin School, graduated from Harvard College in 1829, and Harvard Divinity School in 1833. Ordained into the Unitarian church he first became an active minister at Louisville, Kentucky, then a slave state, and soon threw himself into the national movement for the abolition of slavery. His mild theology was unusual for the conservative town and, reportedly, several women walked out of his first sermon. As he wrote to his friend Margaret Fuller, “I am a broken-winged hawk, seeking to fly at the sun, but fluttering in the dust.”
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It may make a difference to all eternity whether we do right or wrong today.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Right
Seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Happiness
I can do small things in a great way.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Excellence
The art of life consists in taking each event which befalls us with a contented mind, confident of good … With this method … rejoice always, though in the midst of sorrows; and possess all things, though destitute of everything.
—James Freeman Clarke
If men gave three times as much attention as they now do to ventilation, ablution, and exercise in the open air, and only one third as much to eating, luxury, and late hours, the number of doctors, dentists, and apothecaries, and the amount of neuralgia, dyspepsia, gout, fever, and consumption, would be changed in a corresponding ratio.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Health
God, who has given the Bible, has also given us our reason with which to examine and understand it; and we are guilty before Him if we bury this talent in the earth and hide our Lord’s money.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Reason
Even where there is talent, culture, knowledge, if there is not earnestness, it does not go to the root of things.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Sincerity
Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.
—James Freeman Clarke
We are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Progress
A politician thinks of the next election; a statement of the next generation. A politician looks for the success of his party; a statesman for that of his country. The statesman wishes to steer, while the politician is satisfied to drift.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Politics, Politicians, Posterity
The root of all discontent is self-love.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Discontent
All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. The man strongly possessed of an idea is the master of all who are uncertain and wavering. Clear, deep, living convictions rule the world.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Strength, Conviction, Action, Beliefs, Faith
Never hurry; take plenty of exercise; always be cheerful, and take all the sleep you need, and you may expect to be well.
—James Freeman Clarke
Topics: Health
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