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Wisps Of Wildfire
A collection of essays by F. W. Boreham. Boreham wrote at least 50 full-length books and has been called the greatest essayist in the English language. His work has been hailed in recent days by Billy and Ruth Graham, Ravi Zacharias, and Warren Wiersbe as one of the most under-appreciated authors of the 20th century. While almost all of his works are rare and out of print, some selling for hundreds of dollars, we are working to make more of them available through the Kindle store for modern readers. "Of the books that have played the greatest role in molding me, I count many volumes by especially one F. W. Boreham. He authored more than fifty books of essays and pastored congregations in New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia. He was not the classical preacher, not even a profound, deep preacher, but he was marvelous at seeing beauty in the simple things of life. He heeded John Wesley's charge to young preachers to blend simplicity with sublimity, 'the strongest sense in the plainest language." —Ravi Zacharias Includes an active table of contents.
- GenresReligion
Hardcover
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About the author
F.W. Boreham
204 books57 followersRev. Dr. Frank W. Boreham
(March 3rd 1871 – May 18th 1959) Served, and wrote, in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
(March 3rd 1871 – May 18th 1959) Served, and wrote, in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 10, 2022
If you read my reviews at all, you know the drill when it comes to the completion of a Boreham book of essays. I loved it and I am gonna share some quotes, although, admittedly, this particular volume found me annotating and highlighting larger passages which I cannot distill down to a manageable quote. This man makes me love him more with each essay!
"The only kind of knowledge that a man finds of any real service in this world is the knowledge that he has acquired by hard toil and long experience."
"If," said Darwin ruefully, "If I had to live my life over again, I would make it a rule to read a little poetry and hear a little music each week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept alive through use."
"Silence is the eloquence of Nature."
"It was Victor Hugo who declared with splendid passion that, neither for youth nor age, is a tomb a blind alley. He was himself old. 'But I feel,' he exclaimed, 'that I have not said a thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave, I can say, like so many others, "I have finished my day's work," but I cannot say, "I have finished my life." Another day's work will begin the next morning. My tomb is not a blind alley, it is a thoroughfare; it closes with the twilight to open with the dawn.'"
"As the angels knew, on the night on which they proclaimed to wondering shepherds, the Saviour's brith, God's message to His world is not a sermon, nor a speech, but a song. Like all songs, it consists of words set to music. The words, of course, are the words of the gospel; the words of everlasting life; the words that fell from the lips of Jesus. 'The word I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.' And these beautiful words are set to the music of beautiful lives."
"But when all is said and done, the true signature cannot be typed; the true signature represents the personal touch; and that personal touch is the thing that matters."
"In a quarter of a century I have never known a man to break in death the habit of a lifetime. I have seen beautiful deaths, but they were preceded by beautiful lives. I have seen dreadful deaths, and they were preceded by dreadful lives. Men do not get out of their stride as they approach the last valley."
"I congratulate Sinbad the Sailor on the fact that he never made friends with the Old Man of the Sea and gave himself no rest until the monster was slain.
I congratulate the Prodigal Son on the fact that he never grew accustomed to the far country, and was homesick and restless until he turned his steps once more to the father's house.
I congratulate Bunyan's Pilgrim on the fact that he never allowed his back to get used to the burden, but groaned beneath his load until he lost it at the Cross."
"The man who writes the life of a celebrity is paralyzed by his hero's fame; the man who writes the life of a nonentity has all the secrets up his sleeve. The stars in their courses are fighting in his favor."
"The man whose biography was not worth writing has never yet been born." (Might I say that these two quotes make a compelling argument for the writing of journals.)
"We badly need a few biographies with bad endings. Our libraries - public and private - are woefully short in that department of literature. And it is a very interning and profitable department. Failures are tragically instructive."
"Brains, like peaches, were made to be picked. Pockets weren't."
"Every man of fifty has two bitter regrets. He realizes that he has committed in his time two unpardonable sins. He is haunted by the memory of the questions that he failed to answer, and he is tortured by the memory of the questions that he failed to ask."
"For at night we find it most difficult to relax our hold upon things. The art of falling asleep is the art of leaving go."
"The soul knows three really great moments - the moment at which it receives an impression, the moment at which it develops that impression, and the moment at which it fixes it."
"When you have a powerful impression Nature taught us how to fix it in place. 'Repeat it!' she said. 'Pass the thought on to every man you meet! Weave it into every conversation and find a place for it in every letter. It will make life seem more rich and good to all whose lives touch yours; it will act upon them as a stimulus and a tonic; and, by constant repetition, the thought will become fixed and fastened among the treasures of your own memory!'"
"We all love that moment when we watch someone we love unwrap the perfect gift that we found just for them. Since our human emotions are only reflections of the divine, what joy that God must have found in presenting the world with the very gift it needed. A gift wrapped in flesh."
"The only kind of knowledge that a man finds of any real service in this world is the knowledge that he has acquired by hard toil and long experience."
"If," said Darwin ruefully, "If I had to live my life over again, I would make it a rule to read a little poetry and hear a little music each week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept alive through use."
"Silence is the eloquence of Nature."
"It was Victor Hugo who declared with splendid passion that, neither for youth nor age, is a tomb a blind alley. He was himself old. 'But I feel,' he exclaimed, 'that I have not said a thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave, I can say, like so many others, "I have finished my day's work," but I cannot say, "I have finished my life." Another day's work will begin the next morning. My tomb is not a blind alley, it is a thoroughfare; it closes with the twilight to open with the dawn.'"
"As the angels knew, on the night on which they proclaimed to wondering shepherds, the Saviour's brith, God's message to His world is not a sermon, nor a speech, but a song. Like all songs, it consists of words set to music. The words, of course, are the words of the gospel; the words of everlasting life; the words that fell from the lips of Jesus. 'The word I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.' And these beautiful words are set to the music of beautiful lives."
"But when all is said and done, the true signature cannot be typed; the true signature represents the personal touch; and that personal touch is the thing that matters."
"In a quarter of a century I have never known a man to break in death the habit of a lifetime. I have seen beautiful deaths, but they were preceded by beautiful lives. I have seen dreadful deaths, and they were preceded by dreadful lives. Men do not get out of their stride as they approach the last valley."
"I congratulate Sinbad the Sailor on the fact that he never made friends with the Old Man of the Sea and gave himself no rest until the monster was slain.
I congratulate the Prodigal Son on the fact that he never grew accustomed to the far country, and was homesick and restless until he turned his steps once more to the father's house.
I congratulate Bunyan's Pilgrim on the fact that he never allowed his back to get used to the burden, but groaned beneath his load until he lost it at the Cross."
"The man who writes the life of a celebrity is paralyzed by his hero's fame; the man who writes the life of a nonentity has all the secrets up his sleeve. The stars in their courses are fighting in his favor."
"The man whose biography was not worth writing has never yet been born." (Might I say that these two quotes make a compelling argument for the writing of journals.)
"We badly need a few biographies with bad endings. Our libraries - public and private - are woefully short in that department of literature. And it is a very interning and profitable department. Failures are tragically instructive."
"Brains, like peaches, were made to be picked. Pockets weren't."
"Every man of fifty has two bitter regrets. He realizes that he has committed in his time two unpardonable sins. He is haunted by the memory of the questions that he failed to answer, and he is tortured by the memory of the questions that he failed to ask."
"For at night we find it most difficult to relax our hold upon things. The art of falling asleep is the art of leaving go."
"The soul knows three really great moments - the moment at which it receives an impression, the moment at which it develops that impression, and the moment at which it fixes it."
"When you have a powerful impression Nature taught us how to fix it in place. 'Repeat it!' she said. 'Pass the thought on to every man you meet! Weave it into every conversation and find a place for it in every letter. It will make life seem more rich and good to all whose lives touch yours; it will act upon them as a stimulus and a tonic; and, by constant repetition, the thought will become fixed and fastened among the treasures of your own memory!'"
"We all love that moment when we watch someone we love unwrap the perfect gift that we found just for them. Since our human emotions are only reflections of the divine, what joy that God must have found in presenting the world with the very gift it needed. A gift wrapped in flesh."
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