Quotes by Robert Hall

A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity.

Call things by their right names - Glass of brandy and water! That is the current, but not the appropriate name; ask for a glass of liquid fire and distilled damnation.

If an uninterested spectator, after a careful perusal of the New Testament, were asked what he conceived to be its distinguishing characteristic, he would reply without hesitation, That wonderful spirit of philanthropy by which it is distinguished. It is a perpetual commentary on that sublime aphorism, 'God is love.'

In the power of fixing the attention lies the most precious of the intellectual habits.

Mankind are apt to be strongly prejudiced in favor of whatever is countenanced by antiquity, enforced by authority, and recommended by custom.

Of all the species of literary composition, perhaps biography is the most delightful. The attention concentrated on one individual gives a unity to the materials of which it is composed, which is wanting in general history.

We are to seek wisdom and understanding only in the length of days.

We should be more anxious that our afflictions should benefit us than that they should be speedily removed from us.

What other book besides the Bible could be heard in public assemblies from year to year, with an attention that never tires, and an interest that never cloys.

Rising health care spending occurs because it is beneficial, not a burden on the economy.

In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best. In matters of prudence, last thoughts are best.