William Wilberforce was a British politician, philanthropist, and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Yorkshire (1784–1812). In 1785, he became an evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform. These William Wilberforce quotes will motivate you.
Best William Wilberforce Quotes
- “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “To live our lives and miss that great purpose we were designed to accomplish is truly a sin. It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to reach and so much misery we could alleviate” ~ William Wilberforce
- “There are four things that we ought to do with the Word of God – admit it as the Word of God, commit it to our hearts and minds, submit to it, and transmit it to the world.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“Let it not be said that I was silent when they needed me.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “If you love someone who is ruining his or her life because of faulty thinking, and you don’t do anything about it because you are afraid of what others might think, it would seem that rather than being loving, you are in fact being heartless.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “It is the true duty of every man to promote the happiness of his fellow-creatures to the utmost of his power.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “We have different forms assigned to us in the school of life, different gifts imparted. All is not attractive that is good. Iron is useful, though it does not sparkle like the diamond. Gold has not the fragrance of a flower. So different persons have various modes of excellence, and we must have an eye to all.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “May God enable me to have a single eye and a simple heart, desiring to please God, to do good to my fellow-creatures, and testify my gratitude to my adorable Redeemer.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“We are too young to realize that certain things are impossible… So we will do them anyway.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Selfishness is one of the principal fruits of the corruption of human nature, and it is obvious that selfishness disposes us to over-rate our good qualities, and to overlook or extenuate our defects.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “No one expects to attain to the height of learning, or arts, or power, or wealth, or military glory, without vigorous resolution, strenuous diligence, and steady perseverance. Yet we expect to be Christians without labor, study, or inquiry.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “I am disturbed when I see the majority of so-called Christians having such little understanding of the real nature of the faith they profess. Faith is a subject of such importance that we should not ignore it because of the distractions or the hectic pace of our lives.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Christianity has been successfully attacked and marginalized… because those who professed belief were unable to defend the faith from attack, even though its attackers’ arguments were deeply flawed.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“Africa, your sufferings have been the theme that has arrested & engaged my heart.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Measure your progress by your experience of the love of God and its exercise before men.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “True practical Christianity (never let it be forgotten) consists in devoting the heart and life to God; in being supremely and habitually governed by a desire to know, and a disposition to fulfill his will, and in endeavoring under the influence of these motives to ‘live to his glory.’ Where these essential requisites are wanting, however amiable the character may be, however creditable and respectable among men, yet, as it possesses not the grand distinguishing essence, it must not be complemented with the name of Christianity.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“No matter how loud you shout, you will not drown out the voice of the people!” ~ William Wilberforce
- “true Christians consider themselves not as satisfying some rigorous creditor, but as discharging a debt of gratitude” ~ William Wilberforce
- “If there is no passionate love for Christ at the center of everything, we will only jingle and jangle our way across the world, merely making a noise as we go” ~ William Wilberforce
- “There is no shortcut to holiness; it must be the business of our whole lives.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners (morality).” ~ William Wilberforce , William Wilberforce quotes on slavery
- “Oh Lord, purify my soul from all its stains. Warm my heart with the love of thee, animate my sluggish nature and fix my inconstancy, and volatility, that I may not be weary in well-doing.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Accustom yourself to look first to the dreadful consequences of failure; then fix your eye on the glorious prize which is before you; and when your strength begins to fail, and your spirits are well nigh exhausted, let the animating view rekindle your resolution, and call forth in renewed vigor the fainting energies of your soul.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Is it not the great end of religion, and, in particular, the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends; and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties?” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Our motto must continue to be perseverance. And ultimately I trust the Almighty will crown our efforts with success.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“Life as we know it, with all its ups and downs, will soon be over. We all will give an accounting to God of how we have lived.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “I mean not to accuse anyone, but to take the shame upon myself, in common, indeed, with the whole parliament of Great Britain, for having suffered this horrid trade to be carried on under their authority. We are all guilty—we ought all to plead guilty, and not to exculpate ourselves by throwing the blame on others, and I, therefore, deprecate every kind of reflection against the various descriptions of people who are more immediately involved in this wretched business.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Read the Bible, read the Bible! Let no religious book take its place. Through all my perplexities and distresses, I seldom read any other book, and I as rarely felt the want of any other.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “The objects of the present life fill the human eye with a false magnification because of their immediacy.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “No man has a right to be idle. Where is it that in such a world as this, that health, and leisure, and affluence may not find some ignorance to instruct, some wrong to redress, some want to supply, some misery to alleviate?” ~ William Wilberforce
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“Lovely flowers are the smiles of god’s goodness.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Let true Christians then, with becoming earnestness, strive in all things to recommend their profession, and to put to silence the vain scoffs of ignorant objectors.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “When we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God?” ~ William Wilberforce
- “This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours!” ~ William Wilberforce
- “If . . . a principle of true Religion [i.e., true Christianity] should . . . gain ground, there is no estimating the effects on public morals, and the consequent influence on our political welfare.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“Can one serve God and one’s nation in parliament?” ~ William Wilberforce
- “In an age in which infidelity abounds, do we observe parents carefully instructing their children in the principles of faith which they profess? Or do they furnish their children with arguments for the defense of that faith? …it is not surprising to see them abandon a position which they are unable to defend.” ~ William Wilberforce , William Wilberforce quotes on faith
- “The observance of one commandment, however clearly and forcibly enjoined, cannot make up for the neglect of another which is enjoined with equal clearness and equal force.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Let everyone regulate his conduct… by the golden rule of doing to others as in similar circumstances we would have them do to us, and the path of duty will be clear before him.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “My walk is a public one. My business is in the world, and I must mix in the assemblies of men or quit the post which Providence seems to have assigned me.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Some bolder spirits, indeed, might be expected to despise the cautious moderation of these timid reasoners, and to pronounce decisively, that the Bible was a forgery, while the generality, professing to believe it genuine, should, less consistently, be satisfied with remaining ignorant of its contents, and when pressed, should discover themselves by no means to believe many of the most important particulars contained in it.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “O what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the waves of worldly business like the divine path of the Israelites through the sea! There is nothing in which I would advise you to be more strictly conscientious than in keeping the Sabbath day holy. I can truly declare that to me the Sabbath has been invaluable.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“It is the distinguishing glory of Christianity not to rest satisfied with superficial appearances, but to rectify the motives, and purify the heart.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “What should we suppose must naturally be the consequence of our carrying on a slave trade with Africa? With a country, vast in its extent, not utterly barbarous, but civilized in a very small degree? Does any one suppose a slave trade would help their civilization?” ~ William Wilberforce
- “The first years in Parliament I did nothing – nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “If any country were indeed filled with men, each thus diligently discharging the duties of his own station without breaking in upon the rights of others, but on the contrary endeavoring, so far as he might be able, to forward their views and promote their happiness, all would be active and harmonious in the goodly frame of human society.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“Can you tell a plain man the road to heaven? Certainly, turn at once to the right, and then go straight forward.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “The title of Christian is a reproach to us, if we estrange ourselves from Him after whom we are denominated. The name of Jesus is not to be to us like the Allah of the Mahometans, a talisman or an amulet to be worn on the arm, as an external badge merely and symbol of our profession, and to preserve us from evil by some mysterious and unintelligible potency; but is to be engraved deeply on the heart, there written by the finger of God himself in everlasting characters.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Men of authority and influence may promote good morals. Let them in their several stations encourage virtue. Let them favor and take part in any plans which may be formed for the advancement of morality.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul will grow lean.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Its guilt therefore in these cases, is not to be measure by its effects on the happiness of mankind; nor is it to be denominated true or false glory, accordingly as the ends to which it is directed are beneficial or mischievous, just or unjust objects of pursuit; but it is false, because it exalts that which ought to be abased, and criminal, because it encroaches on the prerogative of God.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“The distemper of which, as a community, we are sick, should be considered rather as a moral than a political malady.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Wherever we direct our view, we discover the melancholy proofs of our depravity; whether we look to ancient or modern times, to barbarous or civilized nations, to the conduct of the world around us, or to the monitor within the breast; whether we read, or hear, or act, or think, or feel, the same humiliating lesson is forced upon us.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “When blessed with wealth, let them withdraw from the competition of vanity and be modest, retiring from ostentation, and not be the slaves of fashion.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Servile, and base, and mercenary, is the notion of Christian practice among the bulk of nominal Christians. They give no more than they dare not with-hold; they abstain from nothing but what they must not practise.” ~ William Wilberforce
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“Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “In short, Christians, in general, are everywhere denominated the servants and the children of God, and are required to serve him with that submissive obedience, and that affectionate promptitude of duty, which belong to those endearing relations.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “How can we judge fairly of the characters and merits of men, of the wisdom or folly of actions, unless we have . . . an accurate knowledge of all particulars, so that we may live as it were in the times, and among the persons, of whom we read, see with their eyes, and reason and decide on their premises?” ~ William Wilberforce
- “Sulky labor and the labor of sorrow are little worth: if you could only shed tranquility over the conscience and infuse joy into the soul, you would do more to make the man a thorough worker than if you could lend him the force of Hercules, or the hundred arms of Briareus.” ~ William Wilberforce
- “It must be conceded by those who admit the authority of Scripture (such only he is addressing) that from the decision of the word of God there can be no appeal.” ~ William Wilberforce
