Noah Webster > Quotes

“The heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.”
― Noah Webster

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character.”
― Noah Webster

“Unaffected modesty is the sweetest charm of female excellence, the richest gem in the diadem of her honor.”
― Noah Webster

“There iz no alternativ. Every possible reezon that could ever be offered for altering the spelling of wurds, stil exists in full force; and if a gradual reform should not be made in our language, it wil proov that we are less under the influence of reezon than our ancestors.

[This quote illustrates the reformed spelling advocated by Webster.]”
― Noah Webster

“Tyranny is the exercise of some power over a man, which is not warranted by law, or necessary for the public safety. A people can never be deprived of their liberties, while they retain in their own hands, a power sufficient to any other power in the state.”
― Noah Webster

“A pure democracy is generally a very bad government, It is often the most tyrannical government on earth; for a multitude is often rash, and will not hear reason.”
― Noah Webster, The Original Blue Back Speller

“The reasonableness of the command to obey parents is clear to children, even when quite young.”
― Noah Webster

“The foundation of all free government and all social order must be laid in families and in the discipline of youth. Young persons must not only be furnished with knowledge, but they must be accustomed to subordination and subjected to the authority and influence of good principles. It will avail little that youths are made to understand truth and correct principles, unless they are accustomed to submit to be governed by them.”
― Noah Webster

“Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.”
― Noah Webster

“When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country.”
― Noah Webster

“[I]f the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.”
― Noah Webster

“The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society; the best book for regulating the temporal [secular] concerns of men.”
― Noah Webster

“God GOD, noun [Saxon god; German gott; Dutch god; Swedish and Danish gud; Gothic goth or guth; Pers. goda or choda; Hindoo, khoda, codam. As this word and good are written exactly alike in Saxon, it has been inferred that God was named from his goodness. But the corresponding words in most of the other languages, are not the same, and I believe no instance can be found of a name given to the Supreme Being from the attribute of goodness. It is probably an idea too remote from the rude conceptions of men in early ages. Except the word Jehovah, I have found the name of the Supreme Being to be usually taken from his supremacy or power, and to be equivalent to lord or ruler, from some root signifying to press or exert force. Now in the present case, we have evidence that this is the sense of this word, for in Persic goda is rendered dominus, possessor, princeps, as is a derivative of the same word. See Cast. Lex. Col. 231.] 1. The Supreme Being; Jehovah; the eternal and infinite spirit, the creator, and the sovereign of the universe. God is a spirit; and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4. 2. A false god; a heathen deity; an idol. Fear not the gods of the Amorites. Judges 6. 3. A prince; a ruler; a magistrate or judge; an angel. Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people. Exodus 22. Psalm 97. [Gods here is a bad translation.] 4. Any person or thing exalted too much in estimation, or deified and honored as the chief good. Whose god is their belly. Philippians 3.”
― Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language

“But when thou findest sensibility of heart, joined with softness of manners, an accomplished mind, and religion, united with sweetness of temper, modest deportment, and a love of domestic life; such is the woman who will divide the sorrows and double the joys of thy life. Take her to thyself; she is worthy to be thy nearest friend, thy companion, the wife of thy bosom.”
― Noah Webster, Noah Webster's Advice to the Young and Moral Catechism

“Whether you reed or rite, accustom yourselves to stand at a high desk”
― Noah Webster, A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings: On Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary Subjects

“...nothing is more properly a man’s own than the fruit of his study. The protection of literary property would greatly encourage genius and promote useful discoveries.”
― Noah Webster, A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects (1843) [Leather Bound]

“Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America’s basic text book in all fields. God’s Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.”
― Noah Webster

“Facts which were new to me were daily presenting themselves to my mind.”
― Noah Webster

“when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.”
― Noah Webster, Annotated Webster Bible 1833 : Textus Receptus Bibles

“ABAD'DON, noun [Hebrew Chaldee Syriac Samaritan to be lost, or destroyed, to perish.] 1. The destroyer, or angel of the bottomless pit. Revelation 9. 2. The bottomless pit. Milton.”
― Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language

“A fundamental mistake of the Americans has been that they considered the revolution as completed when it was but just begun. Having raised the pillars of the building, they ceased to exert themselves and seemed to forget that the whole superstructure was then to be erected. This country is independent in government but totally dependent in manners, which are the basis of government. Men seem not to attend to the difference between Europe and America in point of age and improvement, and are disposed to rush with heedless emulation into an imitation of manners for which we are not prepared.”
― Noah Webster

“Aam AAM, noun [Chaldee for a cubit, a measure containing 5 or 6 palms.] A measure of liquids among the Dutch equal to 288 English pints.”
― Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language

“ABAC'TOR, noun [Latin from abigo, ab and ago, to drive.] In law, one that feloniously drives away or steals a herd or numbers of cattle at once, in distinction from one that steals a sheep or two.”
― Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language

“AB'ACOT, noun The cap of State, formerly used by English Kings, wrought into the figure of two crowns.”
― Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language