Precept & Practice – MARCH 14 – Fault-finding

She (Mrs. Standfast) has set it down that to blame a wrong-doer is the only way to cure wrong.   She has never learned that it is as much her duty to praise as to blame, and that people are drawn to do right by being praised when they do it, rather than driven by being blamed when they do not.

H. Beecher Stowe (Little Foxes)

The faults and mistakes of us poor human beings are as often perpetuated by despair as by any other one thing.   Have we not all been burdened by a consciousness of faults that we were slow to correct because we felt discouraged?   Have we not been sensible of a real help sometimes from the presence of a friend who thought well of us, believed in us, set our virtues in the best light, and put our faults in the background? 

H. Beecher Stowe (Little Foxes)

We should praise our friends – our near and dear ones;  we should look on and think of their virtues till their faults fade away;  and when we love most, and see most to love, then only is the wise time wisely to speak of what should still be altered.

H. Beecher Stowe (Little Foxes)

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW