Harry Emerson Fosdick Quotes

Harry Emerson Fosdick — American Clergyman born on May 24, 1878, died on October 05, 1969

Harry Emerson Fosdick was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the "Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy" within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominent liberal ministers of the early 20th Century. Although a Baptist, he was a guest preacher in New York City, at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan's West Village, and then at the historic, inter-denominational Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, Manhattan... (wikipedia)

He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles.

Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.

Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it.

Life asks not merely what you can do; it asks how much can you endure and not be spoiled.

I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.