John Lancaster Spalding on Love

"The disinterested love of truth which culture fosters is akin to the unselfishness which is a characteristic of the good."

"As the visit of one we love makes the whole day pleasant, so is it illumined and made fair by a brave and beautiful thought."

"As we can not love what is hateful, let us accustom ourselves neither to think nor to speak of disagreeable things and persons."

"Say not thou lackest talent. What talent had any of the greatest, but passionate faith in the efficacy of work?"

"Love finds us young and keeps us so: immortal himself, he permits not age to enter the hearts where he reigns."

"What matter that the man stands for much I cannot love—the moment he touches the realms of truth he enters my world and is my friend."

"There are faults which show heart and win hearts, while the virtue in which there is no love, repels."

"To love the perfection with which we do our work, or the company of those with whom we work, is the secret of learning to love the work itself."

"In education, as in religion and love, compulsion thwarts the purpose for which it is employed."

"When we know and love the best we are content to lack the approval of the many."

"The lover of education labors first of all to educate himself."

"The seeking for truth is better than its loveless possession."

"Faith, like love, unites; opinion, like hate, separates."

"When guests enter the room their entertainers rise to receive them; and in all meetings men should ascend into their higher selves, imparting to one another only the best they know and love."

"Altruism is a barbarism. Love is the word."

"What purifies the heart refines language."

"When with all thy heart thou strivest to live with truth and love, couldst thou do anything better? … If this be thy life, thou shalt not deem it a misfortune to lack the things men most crave and toil for."

"Few know the joys that spring from a disinterested curiosity. It is like a cheerful spirit that leads us through worlds filled with what is true and fair, which we admire and love because it is true and fair."

"We have no sympathy with those who are controlled by ideas and passions which we neither understand nor feel. Thus they who live to satisfy the appetites do not believe it possible to live in and for the soul."

"If science were nothing more than the best means of teaching the love of the simple fact, the indispensable need of verification, of careful and accurate observation and statement, its value would be of the highest order."

"We have lost the old love of work, of work which kept itself company, which was fair weather and music in the heart, which found its reward in the doing, craving neither the flattery of vulgar eyes nor the gold of vulgar men."