American author (1866-1942)
Dying makes what is left of living seem precious. The dying, and those about to die, feel that these last moments must be made beautiful. The cannot be permitted to include the bitterness and the enmities of the living that seem so inexhaustible. So often we hear people who, in dying, resign the old enmities and ask and grant forgiveness. Through such forgiveness they help to make dying beautiful. And, incidentally, they offer a lesson to those who go on living the apparently inexhaustibel life.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"The Dead,", Reactions and Other Essays
A European physician has said something new about love. He has discovered that it is good for the nerves. It would seem to follow that, in case of nerve trouble, it ought to be prescribed.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Love", Reactions and Other Essays
The truth is that most of us see what we are looking for in this world. If we are looking for evil we find it. The reason is not merely that evil exists all around us. There is another reason, far more potent. By looking for evil in our fellow creatures we bring out evil either from them or from ourselves, perhaps from both.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"The Imaginary People,", Reactions and Other Essays
Loneliness is one of the bugbears of mankind. With some people, it is a constant source of unhappiness. They make plans, sometimes exceedingly complex, to keep it at bay. They think that it lies outside. It really lies within their own consciousness.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Loneliness,", Reactions and Other Essays
All kinds of evil flourish in suspicion. It is a perpetual breeder of the qualities that instantly work for evil, including secrecy and resentment.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Being Suspicious,", Reactions and Other Essays
Anger is a form of madness. The words we apply to it show that human beings have long recognized its character. We still speak of angry people as mad. We sometimes say that they are "furious" or "in a fury." Some people are led by anger into the most violent excesses. Anger is one of the commonest causes of murder and it often leads to the infliction of blows, mental or physical, that might easily occasion murder. Oftener still it commits murder without loss of life, by doing to minds and souls mischief irreparable. In one respect anger is like drunkenness. It tends to destroy prudence. Where the intoxication of anger is complete, prudence disappears altogether. Then the way is clear for infamy. There are some people who, when they have once yielded to anger, lose all control. They snatch any weapon within reach. If they cannot strike with things they will strike with words, often far more terrible in their effect. They will make statements that can never be atoned for, that will sting and burn to the end of life.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Anger"
To a writer, going on from week to week and from year to year, one of the greatest rewards lies in discovering his own inconsistency. The opinions that he expressed so confidently last year he may repudiate now by expressing view curiously different or wholly antagonistic. If such were not the case he might well be concerned about himself and ask what could be the causes that were keeping him from growth.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
preface, Reactions and Other Essays
In some ways we should be far better off if we never used words. There are those who think that, in this matter of confusion, learning helps. But it may be the means of making confusion worse confounded.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Words", Reactions and Other Essays
If the time ever comes when there is no longer poverty in the world, there will be a wonderful freedom for the higher qualities of the human race.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"God's Poor", Reactions and Other Essays