Sentence Sermons (Christian Inspiration) #68 --- Hatred

Brutality tends to defeat itself. Hate hurts worse the man who nurses it, and all selfishness robs the mind of its divine insight, and cheats the soul that would know.

—Elbert Hubbard, quoted in Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 26, 1905.

Hate is the hallmark of the little.

—Frank Irving Fletcher, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Nov. 16, 1928.

No hatred is quite so intense as that which develops as a schism, on which separates a common people.

—Frank Francis, Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, Jan. 26, 1925.

The harboring of malice or bitterness or hatred is as a cankerous sore eating its way to the heart. No man can feed himself on hatred and not suffer a loss of his finer promptings and his peace of soul. Hatred has been given to humankind to inflict punishment on those who think ill of others. It operates as a self-inflicted chastisement for wrong thinking.

—Frank Francis, Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, July 8, 1927.

Life is not worthwhile if the mind is filled with the mean and the hateful, because thoughts are one’s closest companions and where you go, they go. Who knowingly desires the company of envy, scandal and hate? Better lift the eyes of the mind above the base and the low.

—Frank Francis, Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, Oct. 9, 1927.

Hatreds which take possession of a people often are slow in forming, but once established they make for war. To avoid war, hatreds must be suppressed. Of all bitterness to be prevented, that os sectional distrust and envy is the most venomous.

—Frank Francis, Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, June 6, 1933.

No hatred is more intense than that created by religious zeal allowed to become intolerant.

—Frank Francis, Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, July 15, 1935.

Hate is like a fish hook. You can insert it with ease into any society and then it begins to tear. Hate never passed a thrust without leaving a ghastly wound.

—A.J. Gearheard, The Shreveport Times, Shreveport, La., May 30, 1926.

The hate of some people is so strong that they have ceased to exercise their power to love. Hate is an odor that emanates from the man who holds malice, and like the odor of some varmints it nauseates all who are in their presence.

—A.J. Gearheard, The Shreveport Times, Shreveport, La., June 27, 1926.

Hatred is like a shotgun with a plugged barrel–the backfire is more dangerous than the shot.

—Roy E. Gibson, Nephi Times-News, Nephi, Utah, Oct. 15, 1953.

Hating our enemies is a waste of energy; it neither helps us nor hurts our goes.

—Nephi Jensen, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 4, 1928.

Hating one’s enemies is a sure way to increase one’s foes.

—Nephi Jensen, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 13, 1928.

God avoids paths marred by the hobnailed shoes of hate.

—W.A. MacKenzie, The Leesburg Morning Commercial, Leesburg, Fla., Feb. 17, 1927.

There's no dial on earth that will tune a whine or a hiss of hate in with the infinite.

—W.A. MacKenzie, The Leesburg Morning Commercial, Leesburg, Fla., Oct. 7, 1927.

Hate is the mushroom which grows in hearts devoid of sunshine.

—W.A. MacKenzie, The Leesburg Morning Commercial, Leesburg, Fla., Oct. 11, 1927.

If you think you hate mankind, it’s because you hate yourself for having earned mankind’s bad opinion.

—Robert Quillen, San Jose Evening News, San Jose, Calif., Feb. 25, 1928.

Hate is often unconscious fascination.

—George Llewellyn Rees, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Philadelphia, Pa., January 1908.

Hate can't hurt us unless we ourselves let it.

—Earl Riney, Church Management, Cleveland, Ohio, November 1947.

The man who hates always does more damage to his own soul than to the soul of the man he hates.

—Roy L. Smith, Christian Advocate, Chicago, Ill., Aug. 12, 1943.

There is something in the very nature of hate which blinds anyone who hates. No hater's judgment is ever reliable; his opinions are never to be trusted; his logic is always confused.

—Roy L. Smith, Christian Advocate, Chicago, Ill., May 29, 1947.

Those who entertain hatred will always live in a prison.

—Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 25, 1935.

Hate leads to a precipice.

—Ernest C. Wareing, Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 10, 1927.

Hating someone is like cutting off a toe to cure a corn.

—Vera Wise, The Daily Herald, Biloxi, Miss., Jan. 27, 1943.

The most deadly force in the powers of destruction is hatred, the cause of nearly all calamities to national and individual life. Wherever this destructive force magnifies itself there will be found grave dangers to our peace and progress. It provokes wars and wrecks all the social institutions intended for man’s preservation and happiness. Where there is an alliance of hatreds, armed conflict is virtually inevitable. ... What created these cruel hatreds? They are the outgrowth of social vices and individual sins. Nothing makes man so great a hater as sinful conduct.

—Joseph Marion Tanner, Improvement Era, Salt Lake City, Utah, January 1918.

There is nothing noble in hatred and revenge. We seldom do or say anything in anger that we do not repent of afterwards. Anger is a sort of insanity, and is ever an unsafe guide. We always say more than we mean at such times; always go farther than we ought to go when we lose control of ourselves. It gives a momentary satisfaction to wreak revenge–and some are more prone to it than others; they love to retaliate, demanding “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”–but when you sift it all to the bottom, what does it amount to? Who is benefitted, after spite has done its work, after the revengeful feeling has been gratified? I never could find any comfort in treating another person as he had treated me, if the treatment was unjust; but I have found comfort in doing good to those who had done evil to me. I am just as weak and frail as anyone; but I have enjoyed returning good for evil on more than one occasion. ... The man who cherishes hatred and malice injures himself; and that is what the Lord desires to prevent. It is because He loves us that He wants us to keep our hearts free from such things. ... For your own sakes, keep your hearts free from animosity. No soul can grow in the good things of God that is choked with spite and malice. By kindness and love, forgiveness and charity, the soul expands like a flower under the sunlight. It can grow in no other way; and that is why the Lord tells us to forgive our enemies.

—Orson F. Whitney, Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 12, 1910.