Best 112 quotes of Isaac Watts on MyQuotes

Abandon the secret chamber and the spiritual life will decay.

Academical disputation gives vigor and briskness to the mind thus exercised, and relieves the languor of private study and meditation.

Acquaint yourself with your own ignorance.

Acquire a government over your ideas, that they may come down when they are called, and depart when they are bidden.

A dogmatical spirit inclines a man to be censorious of his neighbors. Every one of his opinions appears to him written, as it were, with sunbeams, and he grows angry that his neighbors do not see it in the same light. He is tempted to disdain his correspondents as men of low and dark understandings because they do not believe what he does.

Affect not little shifts and subterfuges to avoid the force of an argument.

A flower, when offered in the bud, is no vain sacrifice.

A hermit who has been shut up in his cell in a college has contracted a sort of mould and rust upon his soul.

Among all the accomplishments of youth there is none preferable to a decent and agreeable behavior among men, a modest freedom of speech, a soft and elegant manner of address, a graceful and lovely deportment, a cheerful gravity and good-humor, with a mind appearing ever serene under the ruffling accidents of human life.

A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun.

Birds in their little nests agree; And 'tis a shameful sight When children of one family Fall out, and chide, and fight.

But, children, you should never let Such angry passions rise; Your little hands were never made To tear each other's eyes.

Custom and authority are no sure evidence of truth.

Dear Lord. I give myself away. I've nothing else to give.

Death, like an overflowing stream, Sweeps us away: our life's a dream.

Disputation carries away the mind from that calm and sedate temper which is so necessary to contemplate truth.

Do not be deceived; happiness and enjoyment do not lie in wicked ways.

Do not expect to arrive at certainty in every subject which you pursue. There are a hundred things wherein we mortals. . . must be content with probability, where our best light and reasoning will reach no farther.

Do not hover always on the surface of things, nor take up suddenly with mere appearances; but penetrate into the depth of matters, as far as your time and circumstances allow, especially in those things which relate to your profession.

Do not spend the day in gathering flowers by the way side, lest night come upon you before you arrive at your journey's end, and then you will not reach it.

Earth, thou great footstool of our God, who reigns on high; thou fruitful source of all our raiment, life, and food; our house, our parent, and our nurse.

Everyday is a birthday; every moment of it is new to us; we are born again, renewed for fresh work and endeavor.

Every one of his opinions appears to himself to be written with sunbeams.

Fancy and humour, early and constantly indulged in, may expect an old age overrun with follies.

Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.

Forbid it Lord that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God: All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.

For one drop calls another down, till we are drowned in seas of grief.

For Satan always finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.

For sov'reign pow'r reign not alone, Grace is the partner of the throne; Thy grace and justice mighty Lord, Shall well divide our last reward.

From all who dwell below the skiesLet the Creator's praise arise;Let the Redeemer's name be sungThrough every land, by every tongue.

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove, the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.

How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower!

How glad the heathens would have been, That worship idols, wood and stone, If they the book God had seen.

If I could reach from pole to pole or grasp the ocean with a span, I would be measured by the soul The mind's the standard of the Man.

I love the soul that dares tread the temptations of his years beneath his youthful feet.

In books, or work, or healthful play.

In common discourse we denominate persons and things according to the major part of their character; he is to be called a wise man who has but few follies.

In Job and the Psalms we shall find more sublime ideas, more elevated language, than in any of the heathen versifiers of Greece or Rome.

In matters of equity between man and man, our Saviour has taught us to put my neighbor in place of myself, and myself in place of my neighbor.

Instructors should not only be skilful in those sciences which they teach, but have skill in the method of teaching, and patience in the practice.

In works of labour or of skillI would be busy too:For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do.

It is not to be expected that we should love God supremely if we have not known him to be more desirable than all other things.

It was a saying of the ancients, "Truth lies in a well;" and to carry on this metaphor, we may justly say that logic does supply us with steps, whereby we may go down to reach the water.

It would be of great use to us to form our deliberate judgments of persons and things in the calmest and serenest hours of life, when the passions of nature are all silent, and the mind enjoys its most perfect composure.

I would not change my blest estate for all the world calls good or great.

I would not change my native landFor rich Peru with all her gold

Joy to the world, the Lord is come / Let earth receive her King / Let every heart, prepare him room / And heaven and nature sing.

Kind words toward those you daily meet, Kind words and actions right, Will make this life of ours most sweet, Turn darkness into night.

Learn good-humor, never to oppose without just reason; abate some degree of pride and moroseness.

Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks.