Precept and Practice – JULY 16 – Average People

The man in whom men recognise simply an average human nature like their own, no greater and no less, who they know has all their passions and infirmities and no more than their strength to meet them with, he is the man who, being faithful, pure, serene, brave, hopeful, has power to make his brethren all that he tries to be, of a kind which no brilliant leader of his race can show.

(Bishop Phillips Brooks)

He is tenderest, not who has sinned, as is sometimes vainly thought, – but who has known best the power of sin, by overcoming it.

(Bishop Westcott)

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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