American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813-March 8, 1887) was an American clergyman, editor and abolitionist. He was the son of the New England theologian Lyman Beecher, and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the novelist and reformer who wrote the book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Over 2,500 people flocked to hear him each week at the Plymouth Church of Brooklyn, New York. He increasingly used his pulpit to denounce civil corruption, support women's suffrage (the right to vote), and preach against slavery: <Sink the Bible to the bottom of the ocean, and still man's obligations to God would be unchanged. He would have...

David Dixon Porter (June 8, 1813-February 13, 1891) was an Admiral in the U.S. Navy, the second man to hold that position, (the first was his adopted brother, David Farragut). In the Civil War, David Dixon Porter helped Ulysses S. Grant at the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1863, and the attack on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, 1864-65. He eventually became the superintendent of U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Admiral David Dixon Porter explained: <When one sees how much has been done for the world by the disciples of Christ and those professing the Christian religion, he must be astonished to find...

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813-November 11, 1855) was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and psychologist. He was critical of both Hegelianism and what he saw as the empty formalities of the Danish National Church. His philosophy deals with how one lives, focusing on concrete human reality over abstract thinking. Writing on Christian ethics and the role of the Church, Kierkegaard emphasized personal choice and commitment by exploring the emotions and feeling a person has when faced with life's choices. His philosophical method was inspired by Socrates and the Socratic dialogues. In a letter to his friend Peter Wilhelm Lund, August 11,...

David Livingstone (March 19, 1813-May 1, 1873) was a Scottish missionary and African explorer. He discovered: Lake Ngami and the Zuga River in 1849; the Zambezi River in 1851; Victoria Falls in 1855; and Lake Nyasa and Lake Shirwa in 1858-62. His wife, Mary Moffat Livingstone, died in 1862 and was buried at Shupanga. In 1866-73 he ventured forth searching for the source of the Nile, and was met by Henry M. Stanley, a correspondent of the New York Herald, at Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika in late 1871. David Livingstone worked tirelessly to end the Muslim slave trade, as did other...

James Dwight Dana (February 12, 1813-April 14, 1895) was an American geologist. He taught at Yale College as a professor, succeeding the renowned Professor Silliman. He was the president of the Geological Society of America, as well as the American Association for the Advancement of Science. James Dana became the editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Science and was the author of numerous books on mineralogy and geology, including System of Mineralogy and Manual of Geology. James Dana stated: <That grand old Book of God still stands; and this old earth, the more its leaves are turned over and pondered,...