Harry Emerson Fosdick Quotes

My theory was that what I had to do was make a study of human behavior.

I majored in psychology, and I still love listening to people's problems.

Human beings are social animals; we devote a significant portion of our brain just to dealing with interactions with other humans.

Preaching is personal counseling on a group basis.

We know they are doing their job in committee, that they are brilliant men, smart men, and that they are on the job all the time. We're just human beings down here-all different. We take all these things into consideration. You can't help it.

Humans are humans because we are able to communicate with each other and to organize to do things together that we can't do individually.

I watched 'In Treatment,' that was good.

I've done admin work, preaching and teaching, youth ministry, marital counseling, etc.

I will be doing a lot of human interest interviews. It involves empathising and listening. Which is a lot of what my day job is about. And, frankly, the priesthood isn't without its element of showbusiness.

Many species reciprocate, but only humans gossip, and much of what we gossip about is the vale of other people as partners for reciprocal relationships.

It's important to preach like there's a broken heart on every pew. That's always been a phrase that stuck with me. Not everybody is having a tough time, but you can bet your buck that there's a good tenth of your church that's going through a hard season. There really is a broken heart on every pew.

We're social animals; we're meant to be together, but we were never necessarily meant to be together without being together. That was never the plan, I don't think.

The psychiatrist's office: the only place I can be sure my story will be treated as sad, but interesting.

I guess there were fewer differences between me and social psychologists than between me and other people in general

When God wants to speak and deal with us, he does not avail himself of an angel but of parents, or the pastor, or of our neighbor.

Human kindness can be found in all groups, even those which as a whole it would be easy to condemn.

Pastoring the flock with words. I love that. We always have a prayer time in the middle of our service. We take about eight or ten minutes before I preach, after we've sung, and invite people to come forward for prayer. That's a tender moment to me. I don't preach much in that, but I like to speak to the people.

I've been lucky with the circle of people I'm playing with. We've played enough that there's a language we talk with each other when we play.

As we forge deeper into this issue of forgiveness, we must be prepared to open up and discuss things that bother us before they escalate to a crisis level. We must examine our struggles with forgiveness in which there are not overt offenses or blatant betrayals. I'm convinced that seeds of resentment take root in the silent frustrations that never get discussed. Other people cannot read our minds--or our palms!--and that is why we have tongues to speak.

For the wise old man was universally beloved, and ministered so beautifully to his flock that many of them thanked him all their lives for the help given to both hearts and souls.

Until we invent telepathy, books are our best choice for understanding the rest of humanity.

The truth is, we like to talk over our disasters, because they are ours; and others like to listen, because they are not theirs.

Your partner cannot read your mind, so talk to your partner about how you're feeling and what you need.

Oh, it is easy for the one who stands outside the prison-wall of pain to exhort and teach the one who suffers.

All my adult life I've been in the practice of giving advice to people who are happier than I am.