August 27

“He pointed out that while in truth those who are in authority have a solemn duty to perform in correcting evil, still it is equally a duty to administer all such corrections so lovingly, and with so simple a desire for God’s glory and the real good of the person corrected, as to take away the sting of reproof. He went so far as to say that it is better to withhold a deserved rebuke than to administer it ungraciously, and that judicious silence was far preferable to the truth roughly told. ‘You will catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a whole barrel of vinegar’, he used to say.”

From Life of S. Francis de Sales

“Even a punishment may become unjust unless it is administered in the spirit of love.”

JEAN INGELOW

“’To speak the truth in love’, to reprove wisely and tenderly, is a lesson which it may take a lifetime to learn; but it must be striven after if we would keep the balance true between wisdom and feeling. Let us not have sympathy at the expense of sound practical common sense, or we shall do more harm than good.”

ELLICE HOPKINS

August 26

“Find fault, if you must find fault, in private if possible; and some time after the offence rather than at the time. The blamed are less inclined to resist when they are blamed without witnesses; both parties are calmer, and the accused party is struck with the forbearance of the accuser, who has seen the fault, and watched for a private and proper time for mentioning it.”

SYDNEY SMITH

“There is more dignity and hope of success in a simple expression of disapprobation on the discovery of a fault, accompanied by a declaration that all further explanation is reserved for a calmer moment, than in any heated reprimands.”

Mdme. NECKER DE SAUSSURE

“He had the rare art of giving comfort, advice, and even blame with such humble gentleness, such entire freedom from any assumption of superiority, that it could not wound the sorest heart, nor irritate even the most rebellious spirit.”

From Life of F. W. Robertson.