19th Century Quotes for 21st Century Living

Containing the biographies of fifteen well-known historical figures—such as Mary Todd Lincoln and Sojourner Truth—and with more than 400 quotes from dozens of popular publications and individuals, this inspirational book offers “timely” nineteenth-century wisdom for our twenty-first century world. You’re sure to recognize many of these truths as eternal—adages you may already have adopted into your life.

A wise man ought to hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

—The Banner of Light, 1857

No book is so full of beauty as the book of Nature, yet no book is so carelessly read.

—New England Spiritualist, 1856

Let us halt and watch and listen and see what we shall gain.

—Annie Payson Call, Power Through Repose, 1891

The person that seeks for the highest and best in their own life is sure to find it.

— James J. Owen, Spiritual Fragments, 1890

Always back your friends and face your enemies.

—The Banner of Light, 1863

Each human soul is identical in germ. There is no essential difference between people.

—Andrew Jackson Davis, The Great Harmonia, 1855

Charity begins at home, but does not end there.

—A Fountain of Light, 1880

Let none of us seal our lips until freedom, justice, and equality pervade all hearts.

—The Radical Spiritualist, 1858

No sense as valuable as that which is called common; and it is also the most uncommon.

—The Banner of Light, 1880

Peace and war alike originate in the heart.

—Friends of Progress, 1864