List of Horace Mann Quotes

Man Is Improvable. Some People Think He Is Only A Machine, And That The Only Difference Between A Man And A Mill Is, That One Is Carried By Blood And The Other By Water.

Avoid Witticisms At The Expense Of Others.

The Soul Of The Truly Benevolent Man Does Not Seem To Reside Much In His Own Body. Its Life, To A Great Extent, Is A Mere Reflex Of The Lives Of Others. It Migrates Into Their Bodies, And Identifying Its Existence With Their Existence, Finds Its Own Happiness In Increasing And Prolonging Their Pleasures, In Extinguishing Or Solacing Their Pains.

On The Face Of It, It Must Be A Bad Cause Which Will Not Bear Discussion. Truth Seeks Light Instead Of Shunning It.

God Draweth Straight Lines But We Call Them Crooked.

Every Hand And Every Hour Should Be Devoted To Rescue The World From Its Insanity Of Guilt, And To Assuage The Pangs Of Human Hearts With Balm And Anodyne. To Pity Distress Is But Human; To Relieve It Is Godlike.

We Are Prone To Seek Immediate Pleasure Or Good, However Small, Rather Than Remote Pleasure Or Good, However Vast.

Love Not Only Occupies The Higher Lobes Of The Brain, But Crowds Out The Lower To Make Room For Its Expansion.

Observation - Activity Of Both Eyes And Ears.

It Would Be More Honourable To Our Distinguished Ancestors To Praise Them In Words Less, But In Deeds To Imitate Them More.

Both Poetry And Philosophy Are Prodigal Of Eulogy Over The Mind Which Ransoms Itself By Its Own Energy From A Captivity To Custom, Which Breaks The Common Bounds Of Empire, And Cuts A Simplon Over Mountains Of Difficulty For Its Own Purposes, Whether Of Good Or Of Evil.

Let The Common School Be Expanded To Its Capabilities, Let It Be Worked With The Efficiency Of Which It Is Susceptible, And Nine Tenths Of The Crimes In The Penal Code Would Become Obsolete; The Long Catalogue Of Human Ills Would Be Abridged; Men Would Walk More Safely By Day; Every Pillow Would Be More Inviolate By Night; Property, Life, And Character Held By A Stronger Tenure; All Rational Hopes Respecting The Future Brightened.