Phillips Brooks Quotes
Born: December 13, 1835
Phillips Brooks, a 19th-century Episcopal bishop and renowned orator, forged a legacy of resilience and unyielding focus through his profound spiritual leadership. Best known for penning the hymn O Little Town of Bethlehem, Brooks believed that true strength emerged from quiet, disciplined purpose rather than frantic striving. His philosophy centered on the idea that character is built in the crucible of daily choices, teaching that focus is not merely attention but a sacred commitment to growth amid adversity. His quotes resonate deeply because they speak to the universal struggle for inner peace and determination, offering timeless guidance for those seeking to navigate life’s storms with grace and unwavering resolve.
Phillips Brooks Quotes (39)
"The earth has grown old with its burden of care, but at Christmas it always is young, the heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair, and its soul full of music breaks the air, when the song of angels is sung."
— Phillips Brooks"Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious."
— Phillips Brooks"I do not pray for a lighter load, but for a stronger back."
— Phillips Brooks"Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks."
— Phillips Brooks"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones."
— Phillips Brooks"Set yourself earnestly to see what you are made to do, and then set yourself earnestly to do it."
— Phillips Brooks"The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is."
— Phillips Brooks"Happiness is the natural flower of duty."
— Phillips Brooks"Sad will be the day for any man when he becomes contented with the thoughts he is thinking and the deeds he is doing - where there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger; which he knows he was meant and made to do."
— Phillips Brooks"Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God's Paradise."
— Phillips Brooks"The ideal life is in our blood and never will be still."
— Phillips Brooks"Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours."
— Phillips Brooks"Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours."
— Phillips Brooks"A man who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words."
— Phillips Brooks"Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity."
— Phillips Brooks"Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, 'Christ is risen,' but 'I shall rise.'"
— Phillips Brooks"No man or woman can be strong, gentle, pure, and good, without the world being better for it and without someone being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness."
— Phillips Brooks"It is while you are patiently toiling at the little tasks of life that the meaning and shape of the great whole of life dawn on you."
— Phillips Brooks"No one who has come to true greatness has not felt in some degree that his life belongs to the people, and what God has given them he gives it for mankind."
— Phillips Brooks"A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward."
— Phillips Brooks"Charity should begin at home, but should not stay there."
— Phillips Brooks"Christianity helps us face the music even when we don't like the tune."
— Phillips Brooks"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men!"
— Phillips Brooks"The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without."
— Phillips Brooks"No man has come to true greatness who has not felt that his life belongs to his race, and that which God gives to him, He gives him for mankind."
— Phillips Brooks"Life comes before literature, as the material always comes before the work. The hills are full of marble before the world blooms with statues."
— Phillips Brooks"It does not take great men to do great things; it only takes consecrated men."
— Phillips Brooks"As you emphasize your life, you must localize and define it... you cannot do everything."
— Phillips Brooks"Make your creed simply and broadly out of the revelation of God, and you will keep it to the end."
— Phillips Brooks"The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden."
— Phillips Brooks