Masonry Quotes

• The secret of Masonry, like the secret of life, can be known only by those who seek it, serve it, live it. It cannot be uttered; it can only be felt and acted. It is, in fact, an open secret, and each man knows it according to his quest and capacity. Like all things worth knowing, no one can know it for another and no man can know it alone.

  William Howard Taft

  Men, Dedication, Knowing

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• One thing and only one thing a Masonic Lodge can give its members which they can get nowhere else in the world. That one thing is Masonry.

  George Washington

  Giving, World, Masonic

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• The scientist is a practical man and his are practical (i.e., practically attainable) aims. He does not seek the ultimate but the proximate. He does not speak of the last analysis but rather of the next approximation. His are not those beautiful structures so delicately designed that a single flaw may cause the collapse of the whole. The scientist builds slowly and with a gross but solid kind of masonry. If dissatisfied with any of his work, even if it be near the very foundations, he can replace that part without damage to the remainder.

  Gilbert N. Lewis

  Beautiful, Science, Men

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• We have our little theory on all human and divine things. Poetry, the workings of genius itself, which, in all times, with one or another meaning, has been called Inspiration, and held to be mysterious and inscrutable, is no longer without its scientific exposition. The building of the lofty rhyme is like any other masonry or bricklaying: we have theories of its rise, height, decline and fall -- which latter, it would seem, is now near, among all people.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Fall, Inspiration, People

  Thomas Carlyle, Henry Duff Traill (2010). “The Works of Thomas Carlyle”, p.76, Cambridge University Press

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• The precepts of the Gospel were universally the obligations of Masonry.

  William Howard Taft

  Masonic, Obligation

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• The prosperity of Masonry as a means of strengthening our religion and propagating true brotherly love, is one of the dearest wishes of my heart, which, I trust, will be gratified by the help of the Grand Architect of the Universe.

  William Howard Taft

  Heart, Mean, Love Is

  53 Copy quote

• I had never been in charge of anything. I'd always worked for someone. I worked for a furniture warehouse. I did masonry. I always had a boss yelling at me. So I'd never been in charge of an organization.

  Dave Grohl

  Yelling, Organization, Boss

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• Masonry was not made to divide men, but to unite them, leaving each man free to think his own thoughts and fashion his own system of ultimate truth. All its emphasis rests upon two extremely simple and profound principles, love of God and love of man.

  Joseph Fort Newton

  Fashion, Simple, Men

  Joseph Fort Newton (2013). “The Builders - A Story & Study of Masonry”, p.219, Lulu Press, Inc

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• I violate no secret when I say that one of the greatest values in Masonry is that it affords an opportunity for men of all walks of life to meet on common ground where all men are equal and have one common interest.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Opportunity, Men, Secret

  80 Copy quote

• The ultimate success of Masonry depends on the intelligence of her disciples.

  Albert Mackey

  Ultimate Success, Disciple, Depends

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• Masonry is too great an institution to have been made in a day, much less by a few men, but was a slow evolution through long time, unfolding its beauty as it grew. Indeed, it was like one of its own cathedrals which one generation of builders wrought and vanished, and another followed, until, amidst vicissitudes of time and change, of decline and revival, the order itself became a temple of Freedom and Fraternity.

  Joseph Fort Newton

  Men, Order, Long

  Joseph Fort Newton (2013). “The Builders - A Story & Study of Masonry”, p.124, Lulu Press, Inc

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• From its origin to the present hour, in all its vicissitudes, Masonry has been the steady unwearing friend of man.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Masonic, Hours

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• Freemasonry embraces the highest moral laws and will bear the test of
  any system of ethics or philosophy ever promulgated for the uplift of man.

  Douglas MacArthur

  Uplifting, Philosophy, Men

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• The secrecy of Masonry is an honorable secrecy; any good man may ask for her secrets; those who are worthy will receive them. To give them to those who do not seek, or who are not worthy, would but impoverish the Fraternity and enrich not those who received them.

  William Howard Taft

  Men, Giving, Good Man

  8 Copy quote

• Lucifer represents life, though, progress, civilization, liberty, independence. Lucifer is the Logos, the Serpent, the Savior.

  H. P. Blavatsky

  Civilization, Independence, Progress

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• To enlarge the sphere of social happiness is worthy of the benevolent design of a Masonic institution; and it is most fervently to be wished, that the conduct of every member of the fraternity, as well as those publications, that discover the principles which actuate them, may tend to convince mankind that the grand object of Masonry is to promote the happiness of the human race.

  George Washington

  Race, Design, May

  George Washington (1837). “The Writings of George Washington: pt. V. Speeches and messages to Congress, proclamations, and addresses”, p.201

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• Masonry aims at the promotion of morality and higher living by the cultivation of the social side of man, the rousing in him of the instincts of charity and love of his kind. It rests surely on the foundation of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.

  William Howard Taft

  Men, Brotherhood Of Man, Fatherhood

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• The secret of masonry is to keep a secret.

  Joseph Smith, Jr.

  Secret

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• Our Masonic friends have it down very fine. I do not know where they got it so well. I have often wondered where they found out so many of the secrets of our High and Accepted Order of Masonry.

  Charles Taze Russell

  Order, Secret, Masonic

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• Freemasonry is a science of symbols, in which, by their proper study, a search is instituted after truth, that truth consisting in the knowledge of the divine and human nature of God and the human Soul.

  Albert Mackey

  God, Truth, Knowledge

  Albert Gallatin Mackey (1867). “The Mystic Tie: Or, Facts and Opinions, Illustrative of the Character and Tendency of Freemasonry”, p.7

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• The Blue Degrees are but the outer court...of the temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretation. It is not intended that he shall understand them, but it is intended that he shall imagine that he understands them...The true explanation is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry (those of the 32nd and 33rd degrees)

  Albert Pike

  Blue, Degrees, Temples

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• Strange and mysterious name to give to the spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish souls? Doubt it not!

  Albert Pike

  Morning, Selfish, Son

  Albert Pike (2013). “Morals and Dogma”, p.281, Simon and Schuster

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• To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General (33rd Degree Masons), we say this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of the 32nd, 31st, and 30th degrees: 'The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine.'

  Albert Pike

  Degrees, Doctrine, May

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• Masonry superadds to our other obligations the strongest ties of connection between it and the cultivation of virtue, and furnishes the most powerful incentives to goodness.

  Joseph Fort Newton

  Powerful, Ties, Connections

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• Emperor Lucifer, Master and Prince of Rebellious Spirits, I adjure thee to leave thine abode, in what-ever quarter of the world it may be situated and come hither to communicate with me.

  A. E. Waite

  World, May, Firsts

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