The soul, of origin divine, God’s glorious image, freed from clay, in heaven’s eternal sphere shall shine, a star of day!—The sun is but a spark of fire, a transient meteor in the sky; the soul immortal as its sire, shall never die.
—James Montgomery (1771–1854) English Hymn writer, Poet, Editor, Humanitarian
The care of every man’s soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
The soul’s impurity consists in bad judgments, and purification consists in producing in it right judgments, and the pure soul is one which has right judgments.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Nothing can so pierce the soul as the uttermost sigh of the body.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
To this military attitude of the soul we give the name of Heroism… It is a self-trust which slights the restraints of prudence, in the plenitude of its energy and power to repair the harms it may suffer. The hero is a mind of such balance that no disturbances can shake his will…
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What the inner voice says will not disappoint the hoping soul.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
The soul, considered with its Creator, is like one of those mathematical lines that may draw nearer to another for all eternity without a possibility of touching it; and can there be a thought so transporting as to consider ourselves in these perpetual approaches to Him, who is not only the standard of perfection, but of happiness?
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Most people sell their souls, and live with a good conscience on the proceeds.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul’s emphasis is always right.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
Food may be essential as fuel for the body, but good food is fuel for the soul.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
The only substance properly so called is the soul.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, could ever compel the soul of man to believe or disbelieve.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The mind is never right but when it is at peace within itself; the soul is in heaven even while it is in the flesh, if it be purged of its natural corruptions, and taken up with divine thoughts and contemplations.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Fear must be entirely banished. The purified soul will fear nothing.
—Plotinus (c.205–270 CE) Greek Philosopher, Founder of Neoplatonism
I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three.
—Unknown
We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea. This talent and this call depend on his organization, or the mode in which the general soul incarnates itself in him. He inclines to do something which is easy to him, and good when it is done, but which no other man can do. He has no rival. For the more truly he consults his own powers, the more difference will his work exhibit from the work of any other. His ambition is exactly proportioned to his powers. The height of the pinnacle is determined by the breadth of the base. Every man has this call of the power to do somewhat unique, and no man has any other call. The pretence that he has another call, a summons by name and personal election and outward “signs that mark him extraordinary, and not in the roll of common men,” is fanaticism, and betrays obtuseness to perceive that there is one mind in all the individuals, and no respect of persons therein.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If God gave the soul his whole creation she would not be filled thereby but only with himself.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
Go, Soul, the body
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth or power. Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it.
—Harold Kushner (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
The destiny of man is in his own soul.
—Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) Ancient Greek Historian
Little, indeed, does it concern us in this our mortal stage, to inquire whence the spirit hath come; but of what infinite concern is the consideration whither it is going. Surely such consideration demands the study of a life.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is the soul’s duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic