What Is Truth? December 15, 1940
There is an age-old question, the answer to which is earnestly important to all of us at all times: “What is truth?” There are those who would define it as a relative term⎯those who...
To a Generation Leaving School June 16, 1940
As each school year comes to a close, another generation of young people are appraised and promoted, graded and graduated. Many, of course, will return to continue their studies; some will go to...
The World's Oldest Contest December 22, 1940
The world’s greatest cause has often seemed to be a lost cause⎯the cause of right against wrong. Going back more than nineteen centuries, there was Gethsemane, and there was Calvary. There was...
The Triumph of Principles July 21, 1940
In thinking upon the accomplishments of the pioneers and patriots of the past, we cannot help pausing in humble acknowledgment of what they did with what they had, and with gratitude for what we...
The Timelessness of Happiness June 23, 1940
Every man in his own way is seeking happiness. Indeed, we are told that “Men are that they might have joy”⎯a deep and abiding joy. And so it is proper that life should be a quest for...
The Spirit of Escape October 20, 1940
There seems to have come to dwell among us the spirit of escape. Perhaps it has always been present, but the tenseness of our times makes it more apparent. We seem to want to escape reality; to...
The Shaping of Public Opinion August 25, 1940
The shaping of public opinion is a matter of concern to men who live together, and has become yet more so with the adding of so many millions to the world’s population, and extension of mass...
The Power of Moral Force October 27, 1940
We hear much in the affairs of men of the use of moral force. It is a force to be reckoned with now, as it always has been. It is one of the few weapons that does not become obsolete. It is the...
The Pattern That Underlies All Things September 15, 1940
There are disturbing times in the lives of all of us, sometimes because of personal problems, sometimes because of the problems of the world in general, and sometimes because of our perplexity as to...
The Other Man's Burden March 31, 1940
Most of the men and women who move about us from day to day are carrying hidden within their hearts a load of trouble and sorrow of one kind or another, and we, with our unseeing eyes, often walk...
The Man Who Sings Lullabies to His Conscience June 30, 1940
RESPONDING to the accusation that he was rationalizing, that he was merely attempting to justify his own actions, the brilliant but misguided young man replied: “Of course, I am justifying my...
The Honors of Men May 12, 1940
Many honors are conferred upon people for various purposes. There are honorary and earned degrees, awards for discoveries in science, for literature, for excellence in the arts, prizes for...
The Genuine and the Counterfeit July 14, 1940
The law provides heavy penalties for what we usually call counterfeiting. But there are many kinds of counterfeiting that are beyond the usual penalties of law. We have in mind the intangible kind...
The Fallacy of Averages August 11, 1940
We are sometimes inclined to look with considerable satisfaction upon columns of assorted figures which seem to indicate that all is well with the average. But statistical columns seldom take all of...
The Faith of Our Fathers September 22, 1940
We live in a day when standards of value are being challenged, and the faith of our fathers has not escaped the challenge. This may be because men have asked too much of their lives, and too little...
Teaching for the Future April 28, 1940
One of our modern minds is responsible for giving utterance to the idea that it is useless to educate our children for the world today because the world twenty years from now will be different; and...
Short Cuts to Far Horizons December 1, 1940
Within our generation we have learned to do many things better and more quickly than have ever been done before within recorded time. This efficiency has given us many blessings and material...
Opposing Forces April 21, 1940
The forces that are at work in the physical world have a close counterpart in the forces that are at work in the lives of men. In nature there is a constant leveling process which relentlessly...
More Light November 24, 1940
One of the scholarly scientists of our day writes: “We are learning more and more the high cost of discovering the truth about anything. Our subject matter is so complex that we never reach...
Knowledge Without Judgment February 11, 1940
As we go through life, repeating mistakes and learning costly lessons, we sometimes wonder why we don’t use more of what has been proved in the past—and why we can’t know more pertaining...