WIST Quotations

Fuller, Thomas (1608) -- A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, ii. xi (1650)

Dave — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:47:31 +0000

It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth.

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, ii. xi (1650)

Fuller, Thomas (1608) -- Good Thoughts in Bad Times, “Personal Meditations,” VII (1659)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning.

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
Good Thoughts in Bad Times, “Personal Meditations,” VII (1659)

Full text.

Fuller, Thomas (1608) -- The Church-History of Britain (1655)

Dave — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:43:23 +0000

Good is not good, where better is expected.

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
The Church-History of Britain (1655)

Fuller, Thomas (1608) -- The History of the Worthies of England, “Worthies of Hertfordshire,” “Writers” (1662)

Dave — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:13:14 +0000

And know, reader, that an ounce of mirth, with the same degree of grace, will serve God farther than a pound of sadness.

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
The History of the Worthies of England, “Worthies of Hertfordshire,” “Writers” (1662)
(Source)

Writing of Jeremiah Dike. By the late 19th Century, Fuller's comment had been paraphrased into something simpler, though still attributed to him:

An ounce of cheerfulness is worth a pound of sadness to serve God with.
[Source 1872, 1895, 1867]

This sentiment is not unique to Fuller. In Richard Baxter's A Treatise of Self-Denial (1659), in "A Dialog of Self-Denial" between Flesh and Spirit, Flesh says:

Why should I think of what will be tomorrow?
An ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow.

The second line here may have been a common English aphorism prior to Fuller and Baxter.

Fuller, Thomas (1608) -- The Holy State and the Profane State, Book 3, ch. 3 “Of Self-Praising” (1642)

Dave — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 19:36:16 +0000

He that falls into sin is a man; that grieves at it, is a saint; that boasteth of it, is a devil.

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
The Holy State and the Profane State, Book 3, ch. 3 “Of Self-Praising” (1642)
(Source)