I want to find someone on the earth so intelligent that he welcomes opinions which he condemns. – John Jay Chapman
Our goodness comes solely from thinking on goodness; our wickedness from thinking on wickedness. We too are the victims of our own contemplation. – John Jay Chapman
The reason for the slow progress of the world seems to lie in a single fact. Every man is born under the yoke, and grows up beneath the oppressions of his age. – John Jay Chapman
A magazine or a newspaper is a shop. Each is an experiment and represents a new focus, a new ratio between commerce and intellect. – John Jay Chapman
Wherever you see a man who gives someone else’s corruption, someone else’s prejudice as a reason for not taking action himself, you see a cog in The Machine that governs us. – John Jay Chapman
Benevolence alone will not make a teacher, nor will learning alone do it. The gift of teaching is a peculiar talent, and implies a need and a craving in the teacher himself. – John Jay Chapman
A vision of truth which does not call upon us to get out of our armchair – why, this is the desideratum of mankind. – John Jay Chapman
People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins they wonder whether they are catching cold. – John Jay Chapman
People who love soft methods and hate iniquity forget this; that reform consists in taking a bone from a dog. Philosophy will not do it. – John Jay Chapman
Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same – hardihood. Give them raw truth. – John Jay Chapman
